Unknown Friendship
by XxxXGreek GeekXxxX
Summary: Series of oneshots featuring Percy and Katie, because in my mind they are best friends... but with an interesting past. Oneshots' genre will vary, depending on chapter, but will usually be of humor and action. Lots of action. Not a Percy and Katie romance, just friends. Rated T just in case.
1. Of Shoplifting and Hacking

**Hey! I'm going to keep this short (because nobody really reads these, just scans them over) and just say this: THIS IS MY FIRST FANFIC SO BEWARE! Constructive criticism will be enjoyed while flames will turn me into Leo, a flaming banshee. Read and Review!**

**I DO NOT OWN PJO; RICK RIORDAN DOES****. THANK THE GODS HE OWNS THIS, BECAUSE IF I DID, THE WORLD WOULD HAVE ALREADY ENDED. **

Of Shoplifting and Hacking

Connor and Travis Stoll barged into the Big House, panting like weary dogs. Malcolm, in place of Annabeth, glared at them. "You're late," he said, checking his watch. "Three minutes and forty-three seconds late to be exact."

"We're sor—sorry. We came here as—as fast as we cou—could," Travis choked out, hands on his knees. "We ju—just got caught up in—in some bus—business." Travis heaved in one final breath of air, and then plopped down into a chair around the Ping-Pong table. Connor did the same to the right of him.

Clarisse smirked. "Oh, Travis, were you making kissy-kissy faces at Katie again?"

"No! He wasn't!" defended Connor. "Isn't Katie here anyway?" He looked around, and—there you have it—no Katie Gardner. "She isn't here."

Malcolm made a face. "Yeah, she's late. Again." He looked at his watch, counting the seconds that she was late. "And we can't start the counselors meeting without her. So I guess if she—"

Malcolm was cut off by a loud _bang _as the door was flung open. In pranced a smiling Katie Gardner, like there wasn't a care in the world. Like she wasn't about to be the first person in history to be killed by eyes, Malcolm's eyes.

"You're late—" Malcolm started, but he was cut off by a wave of Katie's hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. 'You're late by six minutes and fifty-seven seconds, Miss Gardner.' Well, I am _not_ in a good mood today, so _back off_ and _take a chill pill_."

That was a very sudden change of mood.

Malcolm's mouth open and closed wordlessly. After about ten seconds of this—by him and everybody else—Malcolm snapped his jaw closed with an audible _click. _"Well, you're right on one thing: you are late by six minutes and fifty-seven seconds. Now sit."

With a huff, Katie followed his oh-so-wondrous-command to the left of Travis. Suddenly, she snapped to full attention. "What, Katie?" Malcolm asked, irritated. "We have to start already."

"Two things actually. One: Where's Chiron?" Katie asked, her head swiveling around, as if Chiron were hiding in her ear.

Malcolm crossed his arms and smirked in triumph. "Chiron couldn't make it today, so he put _me_ in charge of this counselors' meeting."

Clarisse stood abruptly, making her chair topple to the ground. "What?!" She slammed her knife into the table. "Chiron put _you_ in charge? You're not even a real counselor for the gods' sake!" She tugged out her dagger and held it over her shoulder, ready to leap across the table and stab Malcolm in his big, fat head.

Will Solace quickly stood and tried to pry the deadly weapon from Clarisse's fingers while Jake Mason—who was in charge until Leo got back from his suicide mission, because Leo _would_ come back—attempted to shove Clarisse back into the seat he had set back up for her. Maybe Jake could even tie her to the seat. All he needed was some rope, or even better, some wires. With enough, that stuff was practically indestructible. Of course, there wasn't going to be enough, not if he wanted to work on his new invention, a peanut butter and jelly spray gun that the Hermes cabin was paying him to build. Man, he needed that money. He could buy so much with it…

He slapped himself to stop his ADHD from going any further, and lost his grip on Clarisse. Clarisse, noticing the lack of strength holding her back, lunged for Malcolm—but was stopped by a dagger, _her_ dagger, being thrown at her. It caught hold of her shirt and pulled her back to the wall. The dagger imbedded itself so deeply, Clarisse couldn't yank it back out.

She was stuck.

How…?

Clarisse didn't even remember someone taking her dagger. She was clutching it so tightly, not even Will could get it without her being able to notice.

So who took her dagger?

Everybody else had the same question on their minds. Heads turned to the place the knife had been thrown from… and there, standing in the throwing position, was Katie Gardner.

Jaws dropped.

Gasps escaped.

Drew Tanaka fainted, manicured hand held over her red lip stick stained mouth.

Since when was Katie—sweet, kind, quiet Katie Gardner—violent? For the gods' sake, the girl couldn't even hold a sword in the correct position, much less throw a dagger across a room and hit a thrashing Clarisse la Rue's T-Shirt! She was the daughter of Demeter who _did_ _not do violence_! So she did not practice with weapons _used_ for violence!

Katie cleared her throat loudly. "I still have a second question," she announced, taking her seat.

"Umm… umm… okay, Katie, what's—what's your umm… second question?" stuttered a still baffled Malcolm.

Katie reached down and grabbed ahold of Travis's right wrist hidden beneath the Ping-Pong table then raised it for everybody to see. "What—is—this?" she growled out in a low voice, glaring at the Stoll brothers.

Connor blushed nervously, playing with his left wrist. "It's a new fashion statement? Yeah, it's a new fashion, wearing this… umm… bracelet. Yeah, that's what it is." His face flushed even darker to an unnatural dark shade of crimson red.

There was no lying through this one, because on Travis's wrist—visible to everyone now—was a flashing silver handcuff, cut off at the chain.

This started a whole new riot.

Shouts of "You got arrested!" and "What did you do?!" were flung through the air. One after another until the words seemed to mold into one deafening sound the words were spat. All the while, Travis and Connor, who lost his bright red face, became a chalky white.

"Shut up!" shouted Clarisse, still trying to escape from her dagger. So far, the only way she could figure was to have someone else pull out her dagger—which would _not_ do, because it involved help—or rip her shirt—which would also not do, because, well, she was a _girl_, and girls don't do that. Clarisse had picked a horrible day not to wear her armor.

Everyone went silent after Clarisse had said shut up, then began to snicker, because Clarisse looked ridiculous, twisting and turning, trying to get a good grip on the handle so she could break free of the dreadful position. Clarisse glared her I'm-going-to-kill-you-later death glare, and everyone stopped laughing, because no one wanted an angry daughter of Ares hunting them down.

Malcolm turned to face the Sons of Hermes. Then his eyes traveled across the room. "Okay now, how about only one person talk at a time?" Mouths opened to speak. "And by 'one' I mean me," Malcolm finished.

He stared down the pale Stoll boys. "Okay, what did you do? And make this good, or I'll tell Chiron."

"First of all," Connor started, "this is the first time this has ever happened. We've never been arrested by the cops before. It wasn't event that bad, either. We just stole some video games, you know, for our X-box."

"That's it?" Katie asked. "You two dweebs got arrested for stealing video games? Oh no, the world is going downhill fast. Real fast. Faster than I thought." She had mumbled to herself the last part, but everyone heard. For their own good rather than anybody else's, they kept quiet.

Travis gulped. "Yep, that's it."

"Wait." Katie scanned over Connor and Travis carefully. "That still doesn't explain why you guys aren't locked up, or why your fashionable bracelets are broken."

Travis's eyes darted around guiltily. "Well, we might've… maybe… umm… knockedoutthepoliceofficersw hiletheyweredrivingusandused ourweaponstobreakapartourhan dcuffs!"

"Dude, you need to work on your lying skills," muttered his brother.

"What?!" Malcolm shouted. "You used force against—against mortals?" Steam was practically exploding out his ears and his grey eyes were bulging out of his eyes sockets. Quite literally, it seemed. Not a pretty sight.

Katie shrugged. "Hey, at least it was against trained mortals."

Malcolm gawked at her. "No. Rules are rules. There is no using force against mortals, trained or not." He faced the Stolls. "I'll have to show this to Chiron, you do know that, right? This will be forever on your _permanent record_!"

Connor held up his hands. "Hey, hey, we don't want this on our permanent record either." He paused. "What if—what if we cleaned our record? It's only one time, right? We can do that. Right, Travis?"

Travis was already nodding his head vigorously. "Yeah, we can do that."

"Impossible!" Malcolm boomed. He slapped the palms of his hands against the table. "It's already on your file. You've been arrested! It's official."

"Unless you get a hacker," Katie said. She looked at the Ping-Pong table. "I'm gonna put my feet on the table." With that she plopped her feet atop the table. At the same time, Drew was standing up after fainting to the ground. When Katie set her feet on the Ping-Pong table with a loud _thud_, mud flew to the awakened Drew and landed in her mouth. Drew let out a terrified squeal through the large hunk of shoe mud in her mouth. Her eyes rolled to the top of her head and she fell flat on her back on yet another dead faint.

"Will, you're a son of Apollo! Do something!" Malcolm started breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating. This meeting wasn't going as planned at all, not at all.

Will peeked over the edge of the Ping-Pong table at Drew. "She looks fine to me."

Malcolm tugged at his hair. "Can you—oh, I don't know—check to make sure?"

"I did."

"You just _looked_ at her. How can you tell if you just _looked_ at her?"

Will frowned. "Are you underestimating me? Do you think I don't have enough Apollo awesomeness to know when something wrong happened? Huh? _Huh_?"

"No! It's just— ah!" the Son of Athena slammed his head on the table, hard. "Never mind. Let's just go with Katie's plan on cleaning the Stolls record."

Everyone looked pointedly at a bored Katie Gardner.

_What was wrong with her?_

"What?" she asked. "Oh, yeah. I know a hacker that can wipe clean your file. Even make it better." She swiped her hand through the air to emphasize her sentence.

Travis looked pleadingly at Malcolm with his bottom lip sticking out. "_Please_?" he begged. "Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?" Travis got down on his knees as well as Connor. Together they begged: "_PLEASE_!"

"Fine!" Malcolm relented. "Just never—and I mean _never_ _ever_—do that again." He turned to Katie. "So who's this hacker?"

Katie smiled a vicious smile. "We all already know the hacker."

Murmurs circled around the room.

"Who?" Malcolm asked.

"I'll tell you this: the hacker is on the _Argo II_. That's all you need to know." Katie popped up from her seat. "Now we can IM them and…" She watched as the Stoll brothers, identical broken handcuffs jangling, moved at an unbelievable speed and create a rainbow in the span of seconds. "Wow," she breathed. "Y'all are desperate."

"'Y'all?'" Butch from the Iris cabin asked.

"Have a problem with 'y'all?'" Katie snapped.

Butch flinched at the glare he received. "No, no, not at all."

"Good." The Daughter of Demeter turned on her heel and flipped a drachma into the rainbow. "O goddess, accept our offering." She paused as the drachma disappeared in a golden shimmer. "The _Argo ll_," she requested.

The mist then showed a slightly disturbing image.

Leo Valdez was laying down on the dinner table covered in thrown food. Making an angel. He was moving his arms and legs back and forth, back and forth, screaming at the top of his lungs. *"SNOW ANGEL, SNOW ANGEL, SOMEDAY I'M GONNA FLY—"

"LEO! SHUT UP!" Piper screeched. Her ever-changing eyes were bright and fiery, as if she were about to become homicidal.

Jake, who was worried for his brother's safety and _sanity_, asked, "What happened?"

Jason Grace rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his furious girlfriend. "Leo thought it would be a great idea to see if his tool belt could produce Red Bull, then drink said Red Bull. He's been like this for almost an hour already."

"WOW! DIDYOUGUYSSEETHATFLYOVERTHER E! RIGHTTHERE! THEREITGOES! WATCHIT! WATCHITFLYALLAROUNDTHEROOMLI KEJASONTHEBLONDESUPERMAN!" Leo took in a deep breath of air. *"P-P-P-POKER FACE, P-P-POKER FACE—"

Gleeson Hedge held up his club. "Okay cupcake, I know I'm supposed to protect you and stuff, and I am, because I'm about to shut you up before Piper does—for good."

"No bashing, Hedge."

Everyone looked at where the commanding voice had come from. Sitting calmly and working on Daedalus' laptop was Annabeth Chase. Her bloodshot eyes were locked to the screen and hadn't moved an inch, not even to look at the Iris Message.

"Annabeth?" Malcolm asked. "Are you okay?" He was still slightly worried about his sister. She hadn't been quite the same since her descent into Tartarus.

Then she looked up and pushed her laptop away. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Umm… okay… Where's Percy?"

Annabeth pointed behind her back, and sure enough, Percy came limping up. "Hey." He waved, a smile forming on his lips. Strangely enough, Tartarus hadn't seemed to change him all too much. Barely at all, actually.

Connor and Travis didn't like the long hellos. They wanted a clean record. Not knowing who the hacker was, Connor decided that Leo, being a child of Hephaestus, was good with technology, probably enough to be able to hack into the police system and clean their records forever. "Leo," he said.

Leo, who was trying to catch a buzzing fly, turned at the sound of his name. "Yes?" he asked.

Travis shoved his brother to the side. "We want you to hack into the police system and clean our permanent records because we may have accidentally got arrested."

"No can do," Leo replied.

"What?! Why?!" Connor screamed.

Leo, still jittering from his high on Red Bull, frowned. "Because I don't know how to hack into Annabeth's computer, much less any police system."

Travis glared accusingly at Katie. "But Katie said—"

He was interrupted by a grumbling daughter of Ares. "Katie said the hacker was on the _Argo ll_. She didn't say Leo was the hacker." She played with the part of her ripped T-shirt. Clarisse had just escaped from the death trap and even she knew what Katie had said. "The hacker's probably Annabeth. Right, Annabeth?"

Percy pulled Daedalus' laptop to him.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "What? No, I'm not going to hack into a police system and clean the Stolls' permanent record. For one, it's illegal. And two—"

"—you don't know how to hack into the system and clean the Stolls' record." Katie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

Annabeth became a faint shade of pink. "No!" she squeaked.

Clovis, whom everyone thought was asleep, realized that Annabeth wasn't the hacker and asked the question that was on everybody's mind: "Then, who's the hacker that Katie was talking about?"

"What's a hacker anyway? What's one supposed to do?" This was Hazel who had asked these questions. Poor Hazel Levesque hardly even knew what a computer was. Now she had to know what a hacker was?

Frank Zhang and Nico di Angelo realized that Hazel was lost beyond comprehension, and quietly scooted closer to her to explain.

Travis got up in Katie's face. "Katie Gardner, you better tell us who the freakin' hacker is so that we don't have to tell Chiron—"

"—that you guys stole _video games _from a mall. Ha! That is hilarious." Percy wiped an imaginary tear. Then a slight frown appeared on his face. "Wow. The world is heading downhill fast, _very fast_. Seriously, you guys got cuffed for stealing a few _video games_."

Everyone stared at Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus, who was currently staring at Annabeth's laptop screen with a small, lopsided grin on his face.

But he wasn't finished yet.

He slammed the table. "Oh, but wait! This was just the first time you guys got _busted_ for shoplifting. You guys have stolen video games and other things in the mortal world _several _other times apparently." He chuckled to himself.

Annabeth gaped at her boyfriend. "Percy, how do you know that?" She snatched her laptop from him and her eyes widened in surprise. "Percy, you _hacked_ into the police system? But… it's—it's _illegal_."

Percy snorted and pulled the laptop back to him. "_Well_, so is _shoplifting."_ He turned to the screen, his fingers whizzing around the keyboard so quick they were a blur. "Hey Katie," he said, not looking up. "Should I check the prez's email?"

Katie nodded. "Yeah. I haven't seen what's been up in his life since before the Titan War."

Leo peeked over Percy's shoulder. "From Mrs. Obama." His eyebrows raised and an elfish smile overcame his face. "'Don't forget your rash cream, honey. There's no need to repeat the last incident.' What?"

Katie laughed. "Oh. My. Gods! He has another rash! Hey, Perce, do ya think it's in the same place?"

Percy held his aching stomach after a short laughing fit. "From the part 'There's no need to repeat the last incident,' I'd say yes!"

Katie threw her head back and her chair flipped back over, but she didn't seem to care, she was laughing too much. "Oh, poor Mr. President! Man, if only you could put this on the internet, but you'd be arrested." She frowned. "Again."

Percy nearly fell over in his seat, too. "You still sore on the whole arrested thing? We were ten!"

Annabeth murmured, "They knew each other when they were ten?"

Hedge stood up. "You got arrested, when you were ten! For what?"

"Hacking. Duh."

Connor yelled. "Well if you can hack, clean our record!"

"Oh, okay." Percy moved the curser and clicked on the minimized page of the list of arrested peoples. He typed in some things, then clicked once, twice. "Okay. Done. You're clean." He looked up, and then back down again. "Someone got arrested for pushing a car into a river. But get this: it was his own car." He shook his head, bewildered. "That's crazy, even if it's for insurance to cover it."

Malcolm, who had been silent for quite a while, said, "Well, now that the Stolls' records are clean, were just going to say goodbye. So, goodbye." He waved his hand in the mist and turned to all of the cabin counselors. "Well, that was interesting."

"Yep," Katie sighed. "And would ya look at that—this meeting is over. Peace!"

"Katie, wait." Malcolm placed a hand on Katie's shoulder. "Why would you be sore on Percy getting arrested? Did you get arrested too?"

"I think the real question is this: Why were the Stolls sharing a handcuff?"

**First * -Snow Angel lyrics by Over the Rhine (Truth be told, I've never heard of them before; I just needed a song that had the words "snow angel" in them.) I DO NOT OWN**

**Second* -Poker Face lyrics by Lady GaGa (You should know this.) I DO NOT OWN**

**Hoped you liked it. I'll probably have more (better) one shots up later. Review! Please! **

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**Kk. Bye. **

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX **


	2. Arrest

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR FAVORITES! Not to be an ingrate, but can I have some reviews, too? Anyway…

**Hi, hi, hi! I'm back! Remember that little moment I mentioned in "Of Shoplifting and Hacking," where Percy and Katie get arrested? Well, this is it!**

**Might start off a bit slow, but keep reading! You'll get a good look at what goes through my head. And this will lead to my other fanfictions, which will ultimately lead to Percy Jackson's past.**

**I DO NOT OWN. **

Arrest

_**Katie Gardner POV**_

**Katie peaked over the shoulder of her best friend**, Percy Jackson, to see what he was up to.

Okay, she wasn't really trying _to see_ what he was doing; it was more like _checking_ if he was doing anything that she needed to put a stop to, _but it was her job_. Even though Percy was older (only by a month, and they were ten, Percy a month from eleven) and had basically—no, not basically, _had_—protected and raised her for a short period of time, she still had to make sure he didn't do something stupid, or _illegal_.

She carefully scrutinized his every tap on the computer keyboard. Then she looked up at the screen, because he was typing _way_ too fast for her to read. Katie sighed as she slowly attempted to read what he had typed; it wasn't her dyslexia that was making the spinning words unreadable. No, it wasn't that at all. She sighed. Somehow Percy had managed to change the keyboard so it wrote everything in _Russian_. Why Russian?

She grumbled slightly to herself, but Percy made no move to even so much as glance at her. Somehow, Katie had managed to put together what Percy had taught her of the language and read some of what was on the computer screen. While she was reading, she realized Percy wasn't typing anything; someone else was. Percy was just reading what they had written.

_Сегодня мы говорим о проблеме, мы имели довольно долго сейчас: профессионализация наших военных. Наши военные, чуть более пятнадцати лет, еще молодая и неопытная ..._

The translation clicked.

_Today we are talking about an issue we have had for quite awhile now: professionalizing our military. Our military, just over fifteen years old, is still young and inexperienced..._

What is going on? Katie wanted an answer, so she would get one. She flung the spinning chair towards her and got up _real close_ to Percy's emotionless face. "Okay, mister," she started, dominance oozing from her. "I want an answer to this right this minute, so you better give me one as to why you're reading something that looks like it's from the military, in _Russia_." She had spat the last word.

Percy shrugged, unaffected. "It is from the military in _Russia_, but it's not like it's anything important." He waved his hand at the screen. "Didn't you read it? All it's talkin' 'bout is how they need to 'professionalize' their army. Nothing important."

Katie felt a surge of anger speed through her. _How could this guy always stay so calm?_ She shook her head and pulled back away from his face. "Okay… Then how come you're reading it?"

Percy started at her with his sea green eyes, eyes that she hadn't seen ever before a few months before. "'Cause I feel like it." He paused. "Come on Katie, you have to have a better question than that."

Katie thought momentarily, and then she slowly opened her mouth before snapping it closed again. Percy motioned her to go with what she was going to say. Katie eyed him warily, deciding what his reaction would be. Would he laugh? Probably. But this was Percy Jackson; he always had surprises hanging around.

Katie sucked in a breath of clear, cold air. "How did you—how did you even get this information?" It was a stupid question, she knew. It was more than likely from off the internet from some website. Yet she had this nagging sensation in the back of her mind that this was what he wanted her to ask, that he wanted her to know what he was doing.

It was unnatural, that he could do that with her, with anyone, really. All he had to do was wait with his left eyebrow raised and that serious 'I know you can do it' look plastered on his face, and he could put any thought in your head. It was like he was _literally_ putting thoughts in your head, carefully setting them in so you would get that nagging feeling. It was all so uncanny, like his strange knack for being able to tell what was going on in your life or emotions, or even what you were thinking in the first place.

Katie patiently awaited Percy's his answer, his reaction. "I hacked," was all he said.

So he _was_ doing something illegal, and right under her nose! She nearly exploded, but she didn't, because right then her father had walked in. "Hey, guys! Y'all havin' fun?"

Katie nodded happily. "Yep! Just on the computer." She couldn't let her dad know he had a criminal in his house. She just had to act like nothing was wrong. It wasn't like she was lying or anything. Besides, Percy had taught her the acting; he was the best of the best.

Her father took a step forward. "Oh, honey, we're moving, remember? I'm gonna have to pack it up." His eyes lingered on the ancient device he called a computer. "But we'll hook it back up when he get to New York. And then we'll have Percy over, kay?"

Percy nodded in Mr. Gardner's direction. "Yeah, it'll be great. I'll no longer have to travel forever by car. Seriously, New York to Alabama—_southern_ Alabama, that's a _long _drive." He gave a lopsided grin, and then stood from the swivel seat, stretching. "I'm gonna get some food."

"Mkay," her dad mumbled. "There're apples."

"Apples!"

Katie's dad chuckled under his breath. "I thought you'd like some, considering they're about the only thing you eat."

Katie frowned. "Hey, it's not his fault he _really_ likes apples."

"I know. I know. Now help me with this piece a junk. Maybe we'll get a new one." He started exiting everything out on the computer, thankfully not realizing that half of it was in Russian. Katie's father was about to shut down the "piece a junk" when Percy walked into the room, apple posed in front of his open mouth.

Percy's eyes widened. "What are you doing?" he asked, though it sounded more of a demand to know.

Mr. Gardner shut down the computer. "Well, I just shut down the computer." He whacked the top. "Now it's time to pack it!"

Percy rushed to Katie's dad, jumped up onto the computer chair, and grasped his shoulders. "Why didn't you let me do it, the techy?"

"Ummm…" Her father was at a loss of words.

"Why does it matter?" Katie questioned. "_What is going to happen_?"

Percy gave a nervous chuckle and straightened Mr. Gardner's shirt. "Nothing. Nothing." He brushed imaginary dust off of his faded blue jeans. "Umm… By any chance could you tell me how long it'd take for y'all to pack up all your stuff and actually—oh, I don't know—_leave this state_?"

Her dad blinked. "A week, at the very least."

"Too long. _Too long_! It should be _three days at the very most_!" Percy looked as if he were about to hyperventilate.

Katie surged forward and clutched his T-shirt. "Percy, _what is going to happen_? Answer me!"

There was a loud pounding at the front door. Percy pointed in the direction of the noise. "That. That is what is going to happen."

Suddenly the door burst down and men wearing black stormed the house, _her home_.

They held out handcuffs and clicked the evil, shiny metal onto her wrists, her father's wrists, and Percy's wrists.

Katie fought against them, squirming and tugging, but not trying to cause any bodily harm. "What are you doing? _Where are you taking us_?" She could feel fear building up in her, coursing through her body and bringing her to the edge, but she couldn't help it. The whole thing, like getting kidnapped, reminded her of the _Time_. The _Time_, like all others like her, was the beginning of a terrible experience.

Katie vaguely heard her dad yelling at the men dragging her to the door. "Don't do that! She's been kidnapped before! You're just bringin' bad memories. That's why she's fightin' like that."

"Accept out apologies. We didn't know, but you all still need to come with us," one man said, loosening his grip on Katie.

"Why?" her father asked, anger lacing his sharp word.

The same man who had apologized answered. "There is a signal coming from here, from your computer, telling us that you have been hacking into our top secret files."

Katie watched as her dad turned a deep shade of red—a red, she thought, that looked like the red roses she had planted in the garden outside—and shook violently. "What?!" he burst. "You think that I _hacked_ into your 'top secret files!'" I can't even work the _internet_ correctly! How am I supposed to _hack _into your 'top secret files?'"

The man that was holding her father took a step back after the outburst. Katie couldn't blame him; the yelling had hurt her ears, and she was several feet away.

Her father was breathing heavily, his face still the same rose red. "Then why take the children?"

"It's under strict orders, sir, to take all people in the building. That, sadly, includes the children."

Katie felt her heart drop, could hear it shatter.

She was being arrested.

All because of Percy Jackson.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oLINE BREAK0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

**There was no way Katie was forgiving Percy, **even if they were best friends since age seven.

They were in a black limousine, windows tinted and seat a soft shade of light brown leather. Under any other circumstances, Katie would have been thoroughly squealing and gawking out the windows and rolling around over the overly large seat, but she wasn't. Why? Because she was handcuffed and jammed in between two huge men in black suits and bullet proof vests, that's why.

Yeah, there was no way she would be forgiving Percy. Ever.

Percy, however much Katie glared at him, acted as if the whole experience of getting arrested was insignificant, like he had been through it a million times before and would a million times in the future, which was probably the case. He simply closed his eyes and cocked his head to the side. Then he leaned his head against the shoulder of the buff guy next to him.

Sure, it looked cute and innocent, but Katie knew better. This was all an act, a trick. Because that is how Perseus Jackson worked—pretend to know nothing. Nothing saved lives. At least in Percy's book it did.

Checking to make sure no one was watching, Katie's eyes darted to both guards beside her, and then to Percy. She scanned over him, because there had to be some way he was going to communicate with her so—there! While most people would focus on the adorableness of Percy's head on the man's shoulder or the giant blob of drool dripping from his mouth, Katie didn't. His hands were forming letters and signs, the letters and signs used for American Sign Language.

Even though Katie hated his guts at the moment (yes, she knew it wouldn't last for long and that she'd eventually stop hating him), she was glad he was a genius, even if he acted—not on purpose—like an idiot. She watched his hands.

_I am sorry,_ he signed. _For getting us into this mess, that is. I should have just fessed up. _

Even while signing he was terrible with words.

Katie reached her foot over and gently tapped his shin with the tip of her shoe. _It is okay. We will be fine. We always are. You just have to think of a plan, brain boy. _

Yep. Not only did Percy teach her Russian, but also ASL and Morse code. Did she mention that this boy is a genius?

_Okay,_ he signed, trying not to shift his body so the man beside him would look over. _Here it is._

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oANOTHER LINE BREAK0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0 o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie didn't have complete faith in Percy's plan, **but it was all that they had.

It was daring. It was reckless. It was suicidal.

And it depended on Mr. Gardner exploding in another rare occasion of anger that he didn't know he had to do so they would be put behind bars with no supervision.

Did she mention that her father didn't even know they had a plan?

They were doomed.

Katie was pushed forward and she stumbled, only to be caught by Percy. He nodded at her, a movement so small it wouldn't even show up on a monitor, and helped her up. Katie nodded back.

_It's strange, _she mused, _that we can do this, communicate and understand without the use of words. _It was strange, but Katie didn't dwell on it for long, because all three of them, herself, her father, and Percy, were pushed and locked into a room with a long plastic table with four uncomfortable looking chairs around it, a single lamp that lit the whole room, and cameras hidden in the upper corners of the room.

They each pulled back a chair and sat. Katie personally couldn't wait for anything. The world seemed to be in slow motion and simply sitting, waiting for the first phase to happen itself was an eternity. Her ADHD took over and she erratically tapped her foot on the cold, concrete floor. Then her erratic tapping began to make a steady beat.

Percy noticed this and began beating his fingers against the table. _Tap. Da dap. Tap, tap. Da dap. Tap. Da dap. Tap, tap. Da dap. _She couldn't help but smile, because only Percy could turn the melancholy environment into their own stage. _Tap. Da dap. Tap, tap. Da dap. Tap. Da dap. Tap, tap. Da dap. _

Katie's dad cracked a smile, and he was in a terrible mood, being stuck—more like _locked_—in a room for something he didn't do. "What are you two doing?"

Percy shrugged, a real, genuine smile on his face. "What are _you_ doing?"

"That doesn't even answer my question."

"Sure it does. You just have to think." Percy tapped Mr. Gardner on the forehead. "_Think_."

"I'll never understand you, Percy."

"I'm cool with that."

_Tap. Da dap. Tap, tap. Da dap. Tap. Da dap. Tap, tap. Da dap. _

The happy mood was killed when yet another man wearing a black suit walked in. He sat in the last remaining chair and glared at Katie and Percy. "Would you please stop that racket?" he asked, though it was a command.

Percy, the ever smart-aleck, just has to talk back. "Say it nicely." He stuck out his bottom lip and made his eyes go wide.

The man grumbled, "I said please. Now stop before I make you." His eyes traveled to the door. "Where is my co-worker when I need him?"

As if by magic, said co-worker appeared, holding his pitch black jacket in one hand. "I'm here. Just trying to learn how to get out a drool stain." He glared pointedly at Percy, and dropped his stained jacket on Percy's chair.

Phase one—complete!

"Okay," he started. "We're gonna ask some questions, and you're going to answer them." He turned to her father. "Got it?" He pulled out a clipboard with a long list of questions on them.

Katie's dad nodded once. "Shoot."

"How did you learn about our top secret files?"

"You told me."

"Not funny. Answer the question."

Her father raised his eyebrows. "I did. You told me about your top secret files when you barged into my home."

"Then how come there is a signal from your computer telling us that you are the one that hacked into our files?! Huh? Answer that!"

Her father stood and slammed his hands onto the table that shook under the force. "I have no idea! Why don't you tell me, Mr. Know It All?!"

The man in the black suit-without-a-jacket-to-go-with-it stood as well. "You, Mr. Gardner! _You _hacked into our system!"

"I DID NOT!" He banged his clenched fist into the table and it collapsed in on itself.

The other man, the one who had killed the fun, yelled for people to take us away. "Okay, that's _it_! We'll question them tomorrow. Put them behind bars!"

Phase two—complete!

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oWHAT? ANOTHER LINE BREAK?0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o 0o**

**Katie clutched at the cool, metal bars, **the evil things that kept her from freedom.

"I'm sorry for getting you kids into this mess," her father kept on saying. Truthfully, it was more that she wanted to get away from the apologizing than wanting freedom.

Percy groaned. "We heard you the first hundred times, Mr. Gardner. We get it. You're sorry. Move on."

"It's just that," her dad sighed and swiped a hand through his thinning hair, "you guys are too young to experience getting arrested, too young to even fully understand what it is, and I just put you two behind bars for losing my temper."

Katie patted her dad on the back. "It is okay Dad. We're fine." She peaked over her shoulder to see if the guard was catching any of this. He wasn't because he had just walked out the door.

Phase three—complete!

"And besides," she continued, "we're breakin' outta here."

Her father looked at her, on the brink of tears. "Guys, it's not that easy. And breaking out is illegal—" he stopped right there, because Percy was leaning against the gate, the now opened gate.

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Well, are you coming or not? 'Cause I don't like it here, and I don't think you do either." He pulled off his handcuffs.

"But how—" her dad started, but he was waved off by Percy.

"Do you seriously think this is the first time I've been put behind bars? 'Cause if so, I need to knock some sense into you." Percy strutted out of the cage and to the computer. There, he pulled out a pair of black gloves he snatched from the drool covered jacket and slipped them on. "I've been arrested before, Mr. Gardner."

Katie could see the question on her father's tongue. "Why?" he asked.

She sighed. "Hacking, Dad. Percy hacks illegally." She patted his back then grabbed another pair of gloves. She tugged them on and walked to a locked window. Careful not to be loud, she pushed it open. It was more difficult than she thought with the handcuffs. "Mkay, I got the window open, Perce. You finally got what you wanted from here?"

Percy typed some words on the keyboard, clicked the mouse, and pressed enter. The printer began to whir. "Yep." He picked up the papers that had printed and examined them. "Definitely." A devilish grin snaked its way onto his face.

Her father was still dumbstruck. He stood there, stupefied and unable to truly process anything. Katie pulled her father along to the window. "Okay," she ordered. "Climb through. When we get further away, we'll have Percy take off our handcuffs."

"But, but, but…"

"It's okay, Dad. Just climb through."

Mr. Gardner did as he was told and squeezed through the tiny window. He tumbled through and landed on a soft patch of grass outside. Katie tumbled through as well and waited patiently for Percy. She watched as Percy, carrying dozens of folded papers, leapt through as if he had done this before. He landed in a crouch and stood quickly, dusting of imaginary dust bunnies.

Katie couldn't help but wonder how many times Percy had done this before, because, now that she thought about it, he did say he had been arrested before. And he didn't say all of the times were for hacking. Why was Perseus Jackson such a mystery?

She stood and helped her dad up. He was shaking and looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Katie hoped he wouldn't; that would be bad.

"Okay, so what do we do now, Percy?" she asked.

He shrugged, _again_. Man, it was getting on her nerves. "We leave."

Katie was about to ask, but her father beat her to it. "_How_, Percy? _How_ do we leave?"

Percy scanned the area, and then he pointed. "There. That's our way of leaving."

Katie looked at what he was pointing at, and her heart skipped a beat. He was pointing at a sleek, shiny, pitch black car that she didn't know the name of, but that was because it looked like one of those spy cars that are specially made for awesome spy movies that didn't have a name.

Percy walked off and Katie rushed to catch up with him. "That?" she asked. "We're taking that?"

"Do you not like it?" Percy motioned at the car.

"No, no, I love it. It's just that…"

"Well, spit it out, Katie."

"I don't think my dad is capable of driving right now." To emphasize her point, her father swerved this way and that while walking, mumbling incoherent nothings to calm himself.

Percy smirked. "Who said your dad was driving?" He opened the door on the driver's side and slipped in.

"Oh."

Katie slid into the passenger's seat and told her dad to sit in the back. She watched as Percy played with a GPS so they could find their way back home. The GPS buzzed and a colored map flashed on the screen. Percy pointed at a red line. "We'll follow this rode."

At that moment, her dad gathered enough sense to realize that Percy, a ten year old, was driving. "Whoah, whoah, whoah. Percy, you can't drive."

"Not legally, yes." Percy adjusted the review mirror.

"But you're not even tall enough to reach the pedals."

"Katie will go down there and reach them for me." He said this as if he'd thought of it before. Probably not. He pulled up his legs and motioned for Katie to crawl under.

She sighed. "I hate you."

"Love you, too," he muttered sarcastically.

Katie, however, obliged his wish and crawled under and pressed the pedal after he picked off her handcuffs. The car lurched forward at first, but then she got the hang of it and could press down to get a certain speed as long as Percy told her how fast they were going.

Katie was driving. Well, in a way.

Her dad wasn't as thrilled as she was. "Katie, stop," he would order. "Katie, stop or else." Eventually, the threats turned into complaints to the Fates, whoever they were. "Why my daughter? Why does my daughter have to be a criminal?" Then he went on to blame Percy. "I blame you. _You_ turned my daughter into a criminal."

Katie couldn't help but feel that there was a bit to the truth in his words. Come on, she was put in some sort of jail because Percy wanted some information. Who wouldn't be a bit off?

When Percy had finally had enough of the blame, though, he turned to look at her father at a stoplight and said to him, "Mr. Gardner, do you think you can look up 'How to hypnotize someone?'"

**I know, lame ending, but it was all I had. Anyway, this is it; Percy and Katie and her father got arrested in a weird, twisted sort of way. More on the way!**

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX **


	3. Meeting New People

This might be helpful for my future fanfictions and references:

Let's say Percy turned 16 in 2010.

That's 15 in 2009,

14 in 2008,

13 in 2007,

12 in 2006,

11 in 2005,

10 in 2004,

9 in 2003,

8 in 2002,

7 in 2001,

6 in 2000,

5 in 1999,

4 in 1998,

3 in 1997,

2 in 1996,

1 in 1995,

and he was born in 1994.

**THANK YOU FOR ALL FOLLOWS, FAVORITES, AND REVIEWS!**

**Aloha! I am back with more. (Don't kill me for not updating sooner!) Okay, for some weird reason in my mind, Katie and Percy are super close, best friend close, so I'm going to write about how they meet. And I'm going to have a slight (okay, not so slight) twist. (BUT IT INVOLVES PERCY'S PAST!) **

**Warning: OOCness all over! Also, mentions of abuse, and idiot, violent kids. This also might—okay, maybe not _might_-be totally depressing. **

**Read and Review!**

**RICK RIORDAN OWNS THIS! HAVE I NOT MADE MYSELF CLEAR YET?**

Meeting New People

_**Katie Gardner's POV**_

**September 29, 2001.**

I whooped and cheered as the rider held fast to the wildly bucking horse, a huge stallion that no one has ever managed to stay on for longer than thirteen seconds. For my seventh birthday, which was today, my daddy had brought me to the annual rodeo. He was a volunteer, too, so we were right next to all the animals. Of course, some of the animals were mean and would bite off my fingers, but the other portion was nice.

I peeked over my shoulder to see my favorite horse—_my horse_—Cupcake. People had always asked me why her name was Cupcake. Well, she looked like a cupcake; with her red tinged fur and pitch black hair, she reminded me of the red velvet cupcakes my grandmother always made on Halloween. It had taken a while for me to convince my daddy that her name should be Cupcake, but he finally gave. Thus the name Cupcake was born!

I was broken out of my remembrance by Daddy, who was pounding his fists on the fence I was standing on and screaming: "No! No! _No!_ He needed two more seconds! Two more! Then he would've had the record! Two more!"

I poked my daddy in the arm. "I bet you could've done that."

He smiled warmly down on me. "I don't think so, sweetheart."

I gave a confused look. "Then why're you mad that he didn't last two more seconds? It's not like he gave up."

"Well sweetheart," he started, "I guess I was upset that he didn't try harder."

My face scrunched up in thought. "But Daddy, there is no such thing at trying really, is there? You either do or don't, right?" Score one for genius girl! I cheered to myself.

My daddy blinked once in shock and once in surprise. "I guess you could but it that way, but…"

I had already fazed him out. "Look, Daddy! The bull! They're bringin' out the bull!"

Daddy chuckled quietly under his breath. "Yep, they're bringin' out the bull alright."

I watched in awe as the bull stormed out into the center of the dirt-covered field. I waited anxiously for the man with the red cape to walk in with the furious bull and dodge all its availed attempts, but that didn't happen. Instead, a young boy, about my age it seemed, ran in. He was wearing faded jeans with holes in the knees, a plain black T-shirt, large sunglasses, and a gray beanie.

_It is summer! Why was he wearing _that_? He's going to get a heat stroke or something! _I thought to myself.

I quickly shook the thoughts from my head. There were bigger matters to attend to. Like, for example, the boy was untrained to survive a bull charging at him at full speed, but he was stuck in a rodeo where a giant bull was about to trample him to death.

Yeah, not good.

Daddy started shaking the fence and shouting for help or an experienced person. He rattled the fence again, bobbing me back and forth. "It's stuck!" he bellowed, panic raising his voice. "The fence, it's jammed!" My daddy pulled me off the fence. "Honey, go over there"—he pointed outside the entrance—"and wait."

I felt myself walking towards the entrance, but turned back to watch the boy. And I just couldn't turn away.

He was confusing, and I wanted—_needed_—to know, to not be as confused.

I watched as the boy stood completely and utterly still, minus the twitching of his fingers, waiting. The bull charged, yet the boy didn't move.

The bull was closing in.

Ten feet…

Seven feet…

Five feet…

The boy got into a stance.

Four feet…

Three…

Two…

One…

The boy sprang up into the air just as the bull was about to smash him into a Boy Pancake, and latched his fingers around the bull's meaty neck. Suddenly he rotated around the bull's neck and was sitting on its back.

What is _wrong _with this kid?

The bull stopped abruptly, the boy clinging fiercely to its neck. After a couple of seconds, the bull still tense, the boy loosened his grip and stood. He was standing on the back of a rampaging bull!

My eyes widened as the bull, much like a bucking horse, raised its hind legs high in the air. The boy went flying, quite literally. He soared by the clouds, higher and higher, reaching the sun. Then he began to fall over to me, closer and closer, until _wham! _The first ever flying boy decided to fly straight into me.

I shoved him off with an emphasized, "_Ouch!_"

He rolled to my side and quickly scrambled to his feet. "Sorry," he muttered. "Couldn't see you." He fingered a shiny, silver, chain that was attached along his belt line.

Really, that was the only clean thing about him. This kid looked _disgusting_.

"Oh, it's okay—" I started, but I never finished, because the boy had turned and fled away, dragging his fingers against the fence.

Who did that?

He threw open another fence, the one that led to a horse, a horse with midnight black hair and tinged-red fur. Not caring to put a saddle on, he clambered on it and dug his heels into the side. "Go!" he ordered.

The boy rode off… _on __my__ horse._

I stood there momentarily, shocked out of my wits and sent into a short stupor. When I finally came to my senses, I sprinted off and leapt up on a saddled mare. I dug my heels into her side unnecessarily hard, and she bolted out of her wooden box of hay. "Get back here!" I shouted.

The mare—one I recognized as Lightning—that I was riding turned out to be the fastest horse at the rodeo, so I happily/angrily caught up with the boy, _who was riding my horse_.

There was no way I was ever going to let this go, because _no one stole my Cupcake_.

Lightning ran up besides Cupcake, and I reached out my left hand to slap the boy upside the head. Sadly, he turned and snatched my hand before I could hit him.

_Of course_, something wrong just _had_ to happen just then.

The boy—for now, officially Boy-With-The-Beanie—lost his balance when he had stopped me from doing my justified duty, and tipped over the side of Cupcake.

Guess who he pulled down with him? Me!

We both tumbled over and over, rolling and smashing into each other like two colliding snowballs or bouncy balls. We just wouldn't—_couldn't_—stop.

"Ouch!" I shouted as we finally, after years and years and years, stopped our mad tumble weed tumble. Blinking out the dirt and dust, I opened my eyes, only to be in the most embarrassing position of all time, even by a seven year-old's standards. I was lying on top of Boy-With-The-Beanie's chest, our noses tip-to-tip. I quickly flung my head back, openly disgusted with the closeness of it all, and attempted to get up off of him. Only thing is, I could only separate us by about half a foot.

His stupid chain was wrapped around my waist.

I not so kindly jabbed him in the side with my cowboy boot. I shivered after I did, though, because it felt like I had kicked his ribs. That's when, with me having to be so close to him, I noticed _a lot_ of things. I probably _had_ felt his ribs, because he was so skinny—no, _skinny_ was an understatement; this boy was literally just skin over bone. His face was all angles; his eyes, or what she could see around his sunglasses, were sunken; his arms looked like they would snap from the weight of his skin, or even the weight of the air; his legs didn't even look like they could carry Boy-With-The-Beanie's weight, no matter how little that was. He was also, scarred—bruises circled his wrist; long, faint, white scars snaked up his arms up to his shoulders; little burns made random dark spots along the inside of his arms; his kneecaps had angry red marks that covered them completely, like they were skinned, only ten times worse; and, worst of all from what I could tell, his eyes had little, almost invisible scars and bruises, traveling all the way around them, like an angry hoard of ants were crawling up behind the dark sunglasses to his eyes, but ended up scratching him all over in the process.

I was quite thankful when Boy-With-The-Beanie finally roused from his temporary stupor. I didn't want to find any more bad things.

He groaned as he held his head, and I noticed a rather large knot forming on the back of his head. _Another bad thing_, I thought silently to myself, a shiver sparking up my spine. "What happened?" he asked, standing slowly, only to be stopped by his stupid chain that was now wrapped around me. He stiffened, and slowly swung his head to face me. "Oh, this isn't good," he murmured.

I gulped. "Well, aren't you going to take it off?" I motioned to the silver chain, which sent rays of sunlight in every which way from the setting sun.

Boy-With-The-Beanie scrunched his eye brows together. "No." He still stood there, rigid as a tree, but I could tell he wanted to get away, to leave.

_So why was he not trying to leave?_

I was too angry to ask. I just let my steam out in a fury of shouts, which probably wasn't a smart thing to do. "What do you mean, 'No'? First you steal my horse, then you ride my horse that you stole to the middle of nowhere, then your stupid chain gets tangled around me, and you won't at least _try_ to take it off! Don't you want to—I don't know—_leave_?" After my rampage, I stomped my foot and yanked on the chain. Then the chain made this weird snapping noise, and suddenly the boy twirled a three-sixty as the chain slipped through his belt loops and landed on his butt.

My eyes widened as the chain flew straight at me. "Oh, no," I whispered, all emotion put into my shocked facial expression. "This isn't good."

I was right. The chain wrapped around my arms like in the movies, and I flopped over onto my side with a _thud_. So now, arms tied to my side and legs becoming tangled as the chain slid down from my waist, I laid on the dusty ground. "You are so dead to me, Boy-With-The-Beanie!" I shouted at him as he stood.

I watched as he stood there, not moving an inch to help me, head tilted to the side, hands grasping uselessly for his chain. He adjusted his beanie and his sunglasses, which had slipped down his nose. He opened his mouth, and in a soft, kind voice, he asked, "Need any help?"

"Noooo…" I drawled, sarcasm practically dripping from my mouth.

He smirked and got down on his knees, wincing slightly at the not so subtle landing. "It might take a while," he warned.

I swallowed my anger. "Well, if it's gonna take a while, why don't we get to know each other. I'm Katie, Katie Gardner."

He hesitated. "Michael." He looked down at the ground and gritted his teeth. I always heard that kids smiled when they lied, but this kid didn't even look slightly bothered.

I lowered my eye lids. "You're lying."

"What makes you say that?"

"My internal senses are tingling, and you paused. Give me your _real_ name, the one you go by."

Again, he hesitated. "My real name?" I nodded. "Percy, Percy Jackson." He looked like he had just committed the world's worst sin.

I scrunched up my eyebrows. "That's a… different name, but I kinda like it."

Percy snorted. "Really? Most kids teased me to no end. My step-dad called it stupid, like me."

I jumped slightly at the venom and hate that he said it with. "Oh, well, I like it. It's different. Like me. And I'm guessing you're different, too. In a good way, that is."

He raised his eyebrows before bending over to take off the chain, sliding his fingers against the cool metal. Not a man of many words, I see.

I shivered as he slowly took off the chain. What was he doing? Percy looked up at me, as if I had said my question aloud. Apparently, I had.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Oh… it's just… ummm… the way you're taking off the chain. Why don't you just look at it to figure out where it's all tangled, instead of what you're doing now?"

He sat up again, postponing my escape. Percy raised his left eye brow, so I could just see it over the top of his sunglasses. A look of utter seriousness was on his face. "Guess."

I felt this nagging feeling in the back of my head, like someone was telling me what to do, and suddenly all the pieces fell into place. Why he was wearing sunglasses, even though he was my age; why he never seemed to actually _look_ at something or someone, only face it; why he had dragged his fingers along the fence; why he was taking off the chain he was, instead of just _looking_ at it to find where the knots are.

But I had only heard of people like him. Daddy had always explained that there were people like him, out in the world, but it had seemed fake, unrealistic. _How could_ _someone not be able to do the simple thing of_ looking?

But here was a living, breathing example. Right. In. Front. Of. Me.

I sucked in sharp intake of cold air that dried the back of my throat. "You're—you're blind."

Percy nodded. "Yep," was all he said before he went back to guiding the chain off of me.

Everything was silent for long minutes, except for the quiet, random clinks his chain as he glided it off me and the one command of, "Stand."

After I was free, Percy stood and looped the chain through his belt loops, and then he waved and started walking away. I ran after him. "Wait! You're just gonna leave? Just like that?"

"Yep, pretty much." He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"But—you can't!" I clasped my hands onto his bony shoulder and turned him to face me.

He shrugged. "Sure I can. I'm doing it right now, aren't I?" With that he slid my hand off him and began sprinting away from me. Really fast.

I didn't pause this time; I just ran. Noticing there was no way I could catch up to Percy—because for such a scrawny kid, he was fast—I hopped atop Cupcake, who, thankfully, had found a small patch of grass and decided to stay. I dug my heels into her side, and we were off, speeding up next to Percy in no time. I leapt off of my trusty steed onto Percy, and we did yet another tumble weed war.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" I couldn't tell who was yelling and shouting and yelping, all I knew was that we kept bonking heads and eating dirt. Finally we stopped, Percy flopping next to me, our shoulders touching.

I released a long breath of air. "Owww…" I groaned, struggling to stand. After a much needed dusting for my capris, I looked up to see Percy was already running off. Again. "Get back here!" I shouted, chasing after him. I seriously didn't know what kept me following him; usually I would let it go. It's not like I knew him all that well. But there was something about him—like he would change my life. For better or worse, I didn't know, but I was willing to take the risk. He just had this aura, like he'd been though everything and he knew everything. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a bit, but he did seem to know _a lot_, even more than her grandfather, and he was a doctor.

Percy glared over his shoulder—wait, I had to remind myself that Percy couldn't _see_, much less _glare_, but it felt like he had. "What?" he barked, turning to face me.

I paused, hands on my knees, panting. "Why are you leaving? Why not stay? I could ask my dad. See if you could live with us."

An emotion I couldn't quite place flashed over Percy's face. It looked between a mixture of pain, hate, and mostly, _fear_. He unconsciously swiped his thumb under his eye. "No." His face became impassive. "I'm fine."

I forged onward. "No, you're not. When was the last time you even had a shower, slept in an actual bed?"

He gulped. "None of your business," he snapped, his face hardening, like his façade was breaking.

"Right, like it's none of my business. Something kept me after you, and I'm Not. Letting. You. Go. No matter how much you hate it, hate me." I lowered my eye lids to slits. "As my daddy would say, 'I'm too stubborn to let something go, once it's in my head.' You're stuck with me. Deal with it." I crossed my arms defiantly.

Percy raised his eye brows in surprise. "Oh, really? What makes you say that?" A snort of air blew his beanie off his head, and I giggled.

I pointed at the horse towering behind him. "Cupcake. Cupcake's keepin' ya here." I pointed at the other horse that had clopped up behind him. "And Lightning. Lightning's keepin' ya here, too."

Percy wrinkled his nose. "Fine." I jumped up and pumped my fists in victory. "But only for a little while." That slightly killed my mood, but only slightly.

My mood rose back up, however, when I heard the rumbling of an old pick-up truck. "Daddy!" I yelled, grasping Percy's hand and dragging him over to the source of the noise.

"Katie?" He climbed out of the car and scanned the area for me.

"Here!" I yelped, beginning to pick up my pace. I heard soft footsteps behind me and guessed that Cupcake and Lightning were following.

I heard Percy mumble: "If either of those horses stomps off my foot, I blame you."

I giggled, too happy at seeing my daddy and convincing him to stay to care. "Come on!" I tugged him along. "I'll ask to see if you can stay with us. He'll probably say yes."

Turns out we didn't have to go the whole way to my daddy, because he met us halfway, my grandfather in tow. Daddy bent down onto one knee. "Katie!"

I let go of Percy and raced to him, jumping up into his welcoming arms. He squeezed me tight and I felt myself melt into his embrace. Finally, knowing I had to ask sooner or later, I pulled back from my daddy and walked back to Percy, taking his hand.

"Daddy," I started, "meet Percy. Percy, meet my daddy. Grandpa, meet Percy. Percy, meet Grandpa." After the introductions, I stared deep into my daddy's eyes. "Daddy, can Percy stay with us, just for a little while?"

He jerked back in surprise and scanned Percy over. His eyes widened, like he was thinking, _Why would I take this kid in? He looks homeless. What if he hurts my daughter? _

I lightly touched my daddy's forearm. "Percy's nice, Daddy. Really 'n truly." I made my eyes go wide. "_Pwease_," I begged. "Let him stay with us, just for a _whittle_ bit."

He sighed in defeat and looked up at my grandpa. "Okay, he can stay with us, just for a little bit, but I still have to notify the police."

At this, Percy jerked his hand away from mine and began stepping back, muttering, "No, no, no, _no_. I will _not_ go back there, not until I'm ready." He made to turn and run off, but I snatched his arm just in time and yanked him back to me.

I glared at my daddy, and then whispered in Percy's ear. "No. I'll make sure no one comes to get you. I told you already, you're stuck with me, Percy."

Percy visibly relaxed, and breathed out a sigh of relief through his nose. He nodded. "Okay."

Daddy, obviously shocked by the event, stood shakily and gestured to our pick-up truck. "Well—Percy, did you say?—why don't you just go into our car, and my dad and I will hook up the horses so we can get a move on." I started leading Percy to our pick-up—hello, he's _blind_, people—when my daddy spoke up again. "You, Katie, wait out here." He pointed right next to him. "Come on."

I shuffled over to him and looked guiltily over at Percy. "Yes, Daddy?" I asked.

He looked up and spotted a nervous Percy standing awkwardly where I left him; Percy was circling the area with his hands outstretched, tip-toeing in a general direction, trying to find the car. Daddy sighed. "Percy, what are you doing? Just walk to the car. It's right in front of you."

Percy stopped circling and began walking straight, his arms still outstretched. When he had found the car, he slid a hand against the surface to find the handle and slid in. Before he closed the door, he sent my daddy what I imagined would be a blind-person-glare. And the scary thing was, it seemed like he was actually _glaring_ at my daddy, like he could _see_.

My daddy shook his head and looked down at me. I couldn't help but feel _bad_ for Percy, because everyone took seeing so lightly, like it didn't even matter, whereas he couldn't see, even if he wanted to, which he probably does.

I was pulled from my thoughts by my daddy asking me a question, a question I personally thought was rude. "What was he doing, Katie?"

I raised my eye brows at him, like I imagined Percy would, and said, "He's blind."

"Oh."

_Oh yeah, Daddy_, I thought venomously. _Feel the guilt_. Feel _the guilt_.

"Well." He cleared his throat loudly. "I didn't know that. I'm sorry if I offended you."

"Yeah," I said drily. "Now what did you want me to wait for?"

He waved me off. "It's nothing. Go get in the car with Percy."

I stalked off to the car and sat beside Percy. He bit his lip. "He thinks I'm going to hurt you."

"What?" I asked. Okay, I'd had similar thoughts, but it hadn't seemed a serious thought until Percy said it. I had a feeling Percy knew a lot of things, so if he said it, it had to be true.

Percy began to chew on his lip. "Your dad, he doesn't trust me."

"Okay, I get that."

He faced me, and I had a weird sensation that he was actually _looking_ at me, blind or not. "He thinks I'm dangerous. Or that I'll attract danger. Or something like that."

I pressed my face against the window and watched as my daddy and grandpa attached the horses by a long rope to the back end of the truck. Daddy was flailing his arms around wildly and practically spitting fire at my grandpa, who was enduring my daddy's outrage with a clam stature. How he did, I'll never know. I only backed away when my grandpa—and I swear he did—looked me in the eyes.

"Why, though? Why doesn't he trust you?" I asked Percy.

He shrugged, a small movement of his bony shoulders. "I dunno. We'll have to figure that out."

I eyed him curiously. "You mean, you don't know?"

"Why would I know?"

I blinked in surprise. Wasn't it obvious? "It's just… you seem to know so much, even if you're young. I thought you would know, and I could learn stuff from you, and all…" I paused. "That didn't make any sense at all, did it?"

Percy chuckled and shook his head. "No, not really." A real smile formed on his face, not a smirk or anything un-genuine. "But I get what you're saying."

"Oh, okay."

A smug look came about his face. "You think I'm a _genius_."

"No I don't!" I protested. "That's not what I meant at all! I just said that I could learn stuff from you, 'cause, you know, you know stuff."

"Okay, okay. Calm down. I use my ears a lot more than you do." Percy clutched at his ears. "And, I knew what you meant. I think I can learn a bunch of stuff from you, too."

"Whaaa…? _You_, learn stuff, from _me_? But I'm just a kid, a seven year-old kid."

"And?" Percy pushed down my pointing hand. "Pointing is rude, by the way."

My mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish. "How…"

Percy closed my mouth with a flick of his wrist. "I guessed your reaction. I wasn't born blind, ya know."

"Oh. Still, how could you learn stuff from _me_?"

Percy shrugged. _Again_. "Everyone learns something new every day, whether it's from someone you knew for a long time, or a new person, doesn't matter. Maybe you learned it all by yourself. You still learn."

I nodded like I understood, which I didn't. "No matter what I learn something new every day," I murmured. "Does meeting someone new count?"

Percy furrowed his brows. "I guess." He let out a snort. "Would you look at that, meeting new people _is_ good, and I've been avoiding it for the past month." He laughed and laced his hands behind his head, covering the knot he got when we fell the _first_ time.

_Meeting new people_, I thought, is _important, because it helps people grow and change, and Percy Jackson, I'm going to help you change for the better._ _No matter how hard you try to stop me. _

**This did not turn out how I pictured it at first… Wow, it changed greatly from the image in my mind. Well…**

**Anyway… Yes, I AM EVIL. Because I _did_ just do that, make you totally _die_ like that and make Percy _blind_. Mwahahaha…**

**Oh, by the way, you know that little part in the beginning of tLT, where Percy says he _sees_ a man with one eye when he was eight? That didn't happen. **

**Favorite! Follow! _Review!_**

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX**


	4. Arrest II

**THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR FOLLOWS, FAVORITES, AND REVIEWS! Here is an update. Sorry it's taken so long—these are longer chapters. I'll do a chapter for **_**Apples**_** soon.**

**This is sort of like a sequel to Arrest, since nobody asked why the people spoke English. **

**I DO NOT OWN.**

Arrest II

_**Katie Gardner's POV**_

**Katie had kept an eagle eye on Percy for the past week.**

He had seemed… jittery to her, always doing scans around the house, jumping at the sound of a police siren, rushing to pack up the house. Her family, meaning her and her father, were moving to a farm on the outskirts of New York soon, today actually, but it had been momentarily delayed when one of Percy's illegal schemes had gotten them all arrested. Ever since their return he had been on the lookout for _something_. Katie didn't know what, but she would figure out; almost nothing set Percy off—_ever_—so something was up.

She lugged a box into the back of her family's bright blue pick-up truck, Percy doing the same. She groaned and flopped into the trunk, her arm covering her face. "This sucks," she moaned, flipping over to see Percy, once again, scanning the area. She couldn't take it anymore; she _had_ to ask. Not just _anything_ could ruin Percy's cool demeanor. "So, what're you lookin' for?"

He started at the sound of her voice, but quickly shrugged it off. "What do you mean?"

She titled her head to the side. Percy was… hard to interpret. She had known him for years, since they were seven, and yet, it was still challenging at figuring out what was going through his head. Sometimes Katie wondered if that was because of what he went through—all that pain had to have _some_ sort of effect on him, like making him unable to show any _emotion_. What she had figured, however, not even his mother knew: Percy had trust issues; he didn't like getting close to people, because that would lead to a world of hurt—they would leave or be put in danger, which would lead to them getting hurt, and other people hurting caused him to hurt. Percy would never show it, though, because he didn't show pain—he just didn't, _couldn't_.

Katie said, "You're nervous. Almost nothing makes you nervous."

Percy scrunched up his nose—something he did when he would realize once again that she knew him inside and out, better than most everyone, even if he didn't thoroughly approve—and looked away, still searching. "I'm just…waiting. I just want to get it over with, yet I know how much you don't like it. I don't mind, but you do."

She knew this trick—he was loop-holing. Maybe. She could never tell.

Katie went with her gut instinct, because that helpful nagging feeling in the back of her head wasn't making an appearance. "Liar."

Percy raised his left eyebrow at her, with that all-so-serious look plastered on his face. "No, I'm not lying. I don't mind, whereas you do."

There was that nagging feeling again. Katie looked Percy dead in the eyes, where two different shades of green met, one sea green one grass green. She smacked her lips. "You're talking about something else, something different, not my moving."

Percy tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes, listening, an effect from being completely blind for over three years. "Remember just a week ago, Katie? You didn't like getting arrested. You believed your dad, about me being to blame." His face was an emotionless mask, but she knew his little antics. He was silently snapping his fingers, something he did when he didn't want her to know something, but knew it was for the better. Either that or he was giving her hints on something she should already know, have already figured out or guessed or questioned.

One day she'd be on his level, not on his level of _knowing_, but of figuring out; she didn't have his ability.

_Or maybe one day he will give a straight answer, instead of have me figure things out for myself_, she thought. She gave a quiet snort at her thought. _Yeah, right, like _that _would happen_.

Katie nodded slowly, thinking about their arrest. "Think about the people," Percy hinted. She thought back to the men: their black suits, their serious expression, short tempers. "Okay," Percy went on. "Now think about how quickly they came to your house." It had been lightning speed fast, unnatural that they had traveled from their base to her home in less than a minute. Nothing came to her. Nothing at all. Yes, it was all unnatural that they could make it to her house immediately after her dad had unplugged the cord to their ancient computer that Percy had used to hack into some sort of cite in Russian—wait a second.

That nagging feeling told her that was it. Just think about it, it seemed to say. Think about it.

Russian. The men, they spoke English, not Russian. If they spoke Russian, her father would not have been able to communicate with them the way he did. They didn't even have a slight accent, like Percy did if you knew to look for it or caught him frustrated or angry. The cite though, it was all in Russian.

Katie hesitated before she spoke, as she always did in situations like this. But, looking at Percy's raised eyebrow and all-too-serious face, she asked a question that she knew he had the answer to, no matter if it was rhetorical. Percy always had an answer; it just depended on what his answer was and if he actually said it. "You're waiting for the people whose cite you hacked into, the people who speak Russian, aren't you?"

Percy looked grim, but, Katie knew, it wasn't for his sake; it was for hers. Percy didn't care if he got arrested. It wouldn't be his first, nor anywhere near his last.

"Yeah." He licked his dry lips. "I am."

"When—when do you think they'll come?" She sounded nervous, even to herself, but what was really going through her mind was, _If I get arrested Percy, you're going to lose your head, and I'll use it to play volleyball. _

Percy's eyes widened and he moved to push her, but Katie, being as stubborn as she was (courtesy of Percy), didn't move an inch. "What was that for, Percy?" she shouted angrily.

Suddenly there was a needle in her arm, and her vision began to blur and fade at the edges.

Her only thought then: _Oh_.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oLINE BREAK**

**Okay, Katie will admit it—she was wrong.**

Of course, considering she hung out with Percy Jackson, a freaking genius who wouldn't admit to his own awesomeness (not that she thought he was awesome or anything), she should be used to it. And people said to ask a girl. Yeah, like someone would ask her when Percy was around. Katie couldn't help but wonder about _her_. She quickly pushed the thought away, because _somehow_ Percy would _know_ that she was thinking about _her_.

She checked her surroundings instead. Man, Percy was getting to her. Next thing you know she'll be visiting the police on a daily basis for _something_, or learning how to speak Arabic or some other foreign language that nobody spoke in the U.S.. Katie went through a mental check list, one Percy had drilled into her brain, like Russian and the Morse code.

She was in the back of some kind of truck, bound and gagged. A sack with some kind of fume in it was beside her, so she guessed it had once been over her head, keeping her _sleeping_. Diagonally to her right was a tranquilizer with darts strewn around it; it seemed to be missing more than two darts though. _Go Percy!_ Next to the tranquilizer _was_ Percy, bound and gagged as well; his eyes were closed, and he seemed to be mentally singing a song—ninety-nine bottles of coke on the wall, no doubt.

Katie looked to her left and—HOLY SNICKER DOODLES WHO WAS THAT STRANGE MAN?! He was hovering over her, eyes slits, mouth frowning, cheeks red in anger. Oh, and he was holding a _gun _to her _head_!

She yelped and on instinct kicked out. Both were unsatisfactory. Her yelp was muffled by the gag and her kick sent her sliding to the ground on her stomach, because they were bound together. She flipped over onto her back and, using her arms and legs, scooted herself back up against the wall. Now, propped up, she could give the man who gave her a fright a proper glare.

He flinched slightly at her glare, something she'd learned from her best bud. "Stay," he ordered, waving his gun.

Katie couldn't make out much of him in the dim light, but from the accent, she guessed he spoke Russian. It reminded her of the time she accidently broke Percy's laptop when they were nine, and he had gradually went from fuming in the modern American to Russian; the in-between part had made her laugh, because she couldn't understand a word he was yelling.

To answer the man's order, Katie had waved her head side to side, as if to say, "Yeah, and I'm on Jupiter, because you sure seem stupider."

He glared before moving to the front of the truck, leaving only her and a brain-singing Percy. Of course, this is where Percy suddenly decides that he should take out his gag and off his bounds because, yeah, he had already done that.

Sometimes it was worth it, having a criminal mastermind as a best friend. It made things more exiting, and when things turned for the worse… well, he's done it all before, people! There won't be a worse for long!

Katie scooted over to him on her butt, waving her tied together hands in his face. "Shhh… Calm down, Katie," Percy scolded. "I'm goin'. I'm goin'. It's not like they're gonna be off for good anyway. You have to keep them on for… pretending." He smirked at his last word, which Katie could understand; he used the word "pretend" for goodness sake! This is Percy _freaking_ Jackson—he probably cussed out a police officer for his birthday as a gift to himself some time before!

He pulled out the gag and she breathed in a deep, luscious breath of cool air. "This," she stared, "is so much more different than last time, namely because my dad isn't here."

Percy shrugged. "It might be more fun this way." He had this evil glint in his eyes that made Katie want to call an insane asylum on him.

"How?" She was wary of him; she had only been "arrested" one time before, while Percy on the other hand... eh… probably countless times in his short nearing eleven years of life.

He tugged the rope bounding her arms together off. "Well, these guys are gonna be more… ummm… violent, possibly, and—"

"Oh, yeah," she cut in, "that'd be _very_ fun. Umm, tell me, what planet are you from, 'cause you sure ain't from here. Those guys are massive! We'd, meaning _you_, be pounded to bits, then have said bits be put in their breakfast cereal. Uh, _no thank you_, Sir Crazy. I like all my body parts connected to my body and not put in breakfast cereal!"

He pushed the bounds on her wrist back on, though very lightly so she could escape. "No breakfast cereal. But what I was trying to say is that maybe we could have a little fun, messing with them and stuff." He pointed to his head. "Hello, criminal mastermind here. There's got to be some fun in all this, whether it's translating what they say into stupid things that don't make sense, heavy sarcasm, beating the pulp outta _them_, or shooting tranquilizer darts all over the place so they jump for cover."

He untied the bounds around her legs, and then loosely placed them back on. He looked her in the eyes, and Katie remembered the first time she ever saw those sea-green orbs. He smirked his signature smirk. "Trust me, it'll be fun, and we'll still escape. Maybe even with a brand new tranquilizer."

She nodded, whispering, "But _how_? You never tell me _how_."

Percy patted her back. "Leave all of that to me. Just play along and enjoy the ride."

Her brain twisted and folded in on itself when she realized that she _was_ enjoying it already—the secretiveness, the danger, the possibilities, the action; she breathed for _difference_, and Percy, as she always knew he would, was giving it to her.

Percy gently shoved the gag back into her mouth and motioned for her to go back the other side. Katie obliged not so happily, until the guy came back. He waved his gun around, finger on the trigger. "Stay," he ordered.

Uh, told us that before.

Percy then, very stupidly, stood up, pulling out his gag. He laughed. "Katie, this dude doesn't speak English." He gave out a single loud laugh. "Duck-face go potty on monkey tree."

The man looked disgruntled. "No, stay." He swung his gun at Percy, then at the wall. "Stay."

She giggled; Percy was right—this was way fun. "No baby in carriage in Italy. Me go to get frappe." The man growled. "Hey! Hey! What's your name, bozo?"

Percy took it up himself to ask the question. "_Эй, придурок, как тебя зовут?_" **(Hey, bozo, what's your name?)**

The man looked surprised and mildly impressed the Percy knew Russian. He said, "_Антон._"

"Anton," she translated.

The man, Anton, raised his eyebrows at Katie; she pointed at Percy. "His fault."

Percy walked up to the man and patted him on the back. He whispered something in his ear, but I heard. "_Что бы вы ни делали, не говори никому, что мы говорим русским. Это будет наш маленький секрет_." **(Whatever you do, don't tell anybody that we speak Russian. It'll be our little secret.)**

More like dirty little secret. Percy was planning something; she knew because he asked what the man's name was instead of continuing on the fun. But the question was: What was he planning?

Percy whispered some more things, and man's face grew more and more… gleeful? Excited? Surprised? Worried? I had no idea.

The man waved his gun again. "Stay."

Percy held up his hands, and then he slid back into his bounds after placing his gag back into place. He nodded and rolled his eyes, a movement she knew as the Percy Whatever; it was his way of saying, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Whatever," without actually saying anything. Right after Percy was in place, a new man appeared.

"Why, hello, children." He tapped his fingers together like evil villains did in movies. "I am the… boss of this… little chat, and I'd like to know if either of you know who hacked into our system. That information is highly classified." He turned to his minion, Anton. "_Убедитесь, что они остаются здесь. Если они двигаются, не стесняйтесь, чтобы стрелять._" **(Make sure they stay here. If they move, don't hesitate to shoot.)**

Katie gulped silently. This guy was insane! Anton pulled out another gun and aimed one at each of their heads. _Oh yeah, Percy, _she thought bitterly. _Make friends with the enemy, like _that _will happen._ He took a step forward so he was directly in between both of them; Katie could no longer see Percy, but it wasn't like Percy could have seen her before. He was still legally blind, and the dim lighting stole any chances he had of seeing.

The man came up to the side of Anton, on Katie's side, and clasped Anton's shoulder. "Well done." He turned to her and crouched down. "Now, we know you know something, so why don't you tell us?" He pulled out her gag with a sharp tug.

Katie was about to ask why the man why he was even in America, because he was from Russia, when she realized that if she asked, he would ask how she knew the language was Russian. She went with the dumb, simple, _safe_ questions. "What do you mean? Who are you?" She made her eyes go wide in fright, but the man just laughed.

"Okay, Katie Gardner," he chuckled. "I know much, _much_ more about you than you think. One of the things I know is that you are very intelligent, straight A's, already learning several languages, including body language; advanced math and science; and all there is to know about _computers_, even though you are dyslexic. Now, tell me what you know." His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.

Katie gladly returned the glare and didn't budge. "_Learning_," she emphasized. "I'm _learning_, which, for your information, doesn't mean _know_. She see tried to see around him, to check on Percy, though it wasn't worth the effort, because the second she started moving the bounds began to slip, and she knew it wasn't time yet. Not yet. "Why me? Why not him?" she asked.

"You mean you're friend, Perseus Jackson? Oh, no, we only grabbed him because he was with you. The only reason he's on the charts is because he was about to be put in an asylum for being 'more than depressed,' and his school records for being expelled from every year of school for fights and such. His grades show no implication that he would even be able to turn _on_ a computer, much less use it to hack into our highly advanced system."

Okay, to say Katie was surprised would be the biggest understatement of the year, of the _century_. _Percy Jackson_ was the very person who was teaching her all of the languages; _Percy Jackson_ was the one that encouraged her to start learning advanced math and science early, because it was involved in technology; _Percy Jackson _was the one who knew all about computers, from how to take one apart to making one from a common toaster. It was all Percy. Freaking. Jackson. Not her! She didn't know his grades, but she knew he did not care about school and usually wrote down his own learning during class and just scribbled down answers on paper, only choosing a few so he wouldn't be held back.

And on the charts? What was that supposed to mean? If it meant having information stashed in some computer the government had, then Percy should live where the computer was, because he did way more than just "almost be sent to an asylum and get expelled from every school he ever stepped in." Didn't information like that include hospital visits? Hello people! Percy just had eye surgery—several times!

How did Percy stay so down-graded? So hidden?

That was something Katie had to ask later, because as of right now, a strange man who refused to tell his name had kidnapped her. Kidnapped. That word sent a whirlpool of emotions down to her stomach. She had been kidnapped by a crazy kidnapper from a foreign country. Panic swelled within her body and she found herself ready to beat this guy to an inch of his life—that is, before Percy got him.

A tranquilizer dart had bloomed in the side of the man's neck, and he promptly passed out, a gun flying from underneath his shirt. Percy knelt down beside her. "Grab the gun," he advised. "It might save your life."

Katie's eyes widened and she quickly picked up the gun, before attaining the full reality that she was _holding a gun_. Percy passed her some bullets and other stuff she didn't know. He raised an eyebrow at her, holding the gun at arm's length, and gave a knowing smirk. Then she realized he couldn't see her and knew ahead of time what her reaction would be. It wasn't her fault she preferred to stay out of trouble!

"Put it in a pocket," Percy told her, showing her his own handy-dandy gun. "Closer to the body, so it doesn't get lost."

She had managed to hide away her brand new weapon of destruction when men came tumbled through to the back of the truck. One man pointed at Percy before he was promptly knocked out by a fired dart. "Any more volunteers?" Percy asked, holding up the tranquilizer. The man raised their own guns in reply. Percy sighed, "Thought so." Then he began shooting like a maniac in all directions. Katie didn't know how, but somehow Percy could aim with the thing blind, only using one dart per man unless hit man decided not to pass out.

Suddenly the truck swerved a sharp right and all the knocked out bodies began rolling over to Katie. She hopped over each one like she was playing a game of steamroller, except with a dozen people instead of one, and landed on top of Percy. They groaned, standing up. Percy darted for the back door and shoved it open. This was when it finally hit Katie that they were in a _moving_ vehicle, and Percy was planning on jumping out of it. While it was moving.

There was absolutely positively no way Katie was going to do that. It was suicidal! Of course, life with Percy was suicidal—but that wasn't the point!

She. Was. Not. Jumping. Out. No thank you. Nu-uh. No way. Nope. Just plain _no_.

She watched as Percy, now aided with sight from the day time sun for his weak eyes, scanned the rushing by rode and waving silver doors. "There has to be a way," he muttered to himself. "There is _always_ a way. _Always_."

So he did know it was suicidal. At least he knew that.

There was a noise behind them and both turned to see the man who was questioning Katie slam a dart into Anton's leg. Anton's eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the ground with a thud. More men and some women came from the front of the truck. One woman helped out the question man stand from the floor, and when he was upright he pushed her away with a growl and aimed a gun at Katie. "умереть," he said. Then a bullet came flying at Katie.

She seriously didn't know what had happened. It all happened too fast—unnaturally fast, but at the same time everything seemed to slow down drastically. As she actually watched the bullet, because _she_ could see it, frozen in place, Percy had grabbed her elbow and whipped out his trusty silver chain, one end wrapped around his hand.

Something he did when he attacked.

The other end of the chain sliced through the air and wrapped around the question man's right leg. Percy yanked the chain back and there was the sickening, echoing _snap_ of a breaking bone. When the man began falling, his finger pulled the trigger again, and another bullet shot out, except this time it veered at the bottom part of the left door.

This sent Katie's brain to take over, allowing her instincts to work on their own accord. Adrenaline pumped through her body. She knew what to do. She could do it. She could do anything.

Katie saw that Percy had noticed her change of behavior, and he motioned for her to move. She launched herself at the handle of the left door. Percy quickly followed her example and leapt to the door, flicking a dagger stabbed though a crackly piece of yellow-brown piece of paper at the interior of the truck. The last thing she saw of the inside of the truck was the dagger piercing the door of the metal truck, the paper fluttering at the speed it had traveled at.

Then first bullet that the question man had shot whizzed by her head and both her and Percy swung back so they could no longer see anything inside the truck. Katie watched as the second bullet shot forward; it struck the bottom hinge of the left door at the same time Percy had swung his chain at the top hinge.

Both hinges snapped, and then they were falling.

The bottom of the door hit the pavement, and then they flipped once… twice… thrice… Katie stopped counting after that. Everything was in auto-drive, her body doing everything, her mind basically blank. She was only vaguely aware that she was moving all over door, trying to make sure she ended up on the top side, trying to make sure she didn't die by being flattened to death by a door.

That would have definitely made the news—**TWO KIDS—KILLED BY A DOOR.**

They stopped flipping and were thankfully not going to be the subject of the news. But it wasn't over. The door screeched down the road, literally sending sparks in its wake.

Then it slowed down, before it came to a complete stop.

Faster than the normal human eye could see, Percy shoved Katie off the door and raised it, catching the first bullet. He let out a deep breath, dropped the door with a _clang_, and flopped down onto it.

She crawled over onto the door as well, and looked at the disappearing truck. Even from the distance she was at, she could see the question man's face, in pain and awed. He pointed, and mouthed the word _impossible_.

"Impossible" seemed the best way to describe the thing the two had done, at least for anybody else.

Percy flipped over onto his back, and Katie said to him, "Less than a second." Her voice gave away all her amazement.

He nodded, a knowing smirk on his face. "Not used to it yet, Gardner?"

That was an easy answer. "No."

"Why?"

There was another easy answer to that, too. "Because, Percy, you attacked the man into hitting the bottom hinge of the door, ripped off the other hinge, and we somehow traveled fifty yards… all in less than a second."

Percy sat up and pointed in the distance. "Well, you better keep that amazement and adrenaline with ya, 'cause we gotta dash."

Katie looked where he was pointing and saw two police cars speeding their way. She checked her surroundings and saw that the truck had driven into a DO NOT ENTER zone.

The two ran off faster than lightning.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oLINE BREAK**

**That night, Katie had a weird dream.**

Somehow, she and Percy had traveled the whole distance the over-the-speed-limit truck had gone all in one day, and had convinced her father that the only reason they were gone so long was because they had taken a break. He had been wary at first, but gave in when they said they would do all they could to help finish the packing, which wasn't much. By the end of the day, she was exhausted however, and had crashed in her "bed"—which was two blankets, one to sleep on one to cover herself with, and a pillow in her room—before the clock even struck nine.

Again, though, her dream was weird.

She saw the question man in a soft padded bed, his right leg wrapped in a deep blue cast. He was holding Percy's yellow-brown paper in one hand, but was focusing on flipping Percy's dagger in the other. The dagger, man… Katie doesn't want to sound weird or anything, but it was… beautiful. Really, that was the only way to describe it—awesome or cool was stupid. Its handle was pure silver and was made of two strands of the precious metal that went parallel around and around, like when somebody wrapped string around their finger, but they never touched except at the ends, where they meet to form the little ball of metal at the end. The handle was hollow, with only little slits made by the parallel strands not even wide enough to stick your finger through to show it.

The blade was a different story. Katie could never tell what metal it was, or if it was made of умеретьmetal, and Percy would never tell. It was not very long, maybe half a foot, but was deadly all the same. The very tip of it had a slight indent on one side, like someone placed their thumb to test if it was sharp enough. Little engravings of swirls designed the whole blade, but these swirls didn't make anyone feel happy and bright; these swirls managed to look dangerous, if that made any sense.

The man placed the dagger on a nightstand by the bed, and turned his attention to the paper. His eyes closed, and he held it up to his face. Opening them slowly, he read the paper again and again. Katie felt herself move, and suddenly she was reading it, too.

_Don't worry,_ Валентин Якушин _(Valentin Yakushin)._

_Your secrets are safe with me, with us._

_Simply leave us alone and everything will be fine._

_Don't… _

_Well, I'll come get you, and bring along some of my friends for the fun._

_Be safe,_

_AHE 0.5A_

_AKA—Alaster _

Katie saw the question man, who now was now named, shake in fear. He threw down the paper and shouted, "_Это должно быть невозможным. Она должна быть!_" **(It must be impossible. It must be!)**

She shook her head and forced her dream self near the ear of Valentin Yakushin. "Nothing is impossible with us."

She felt herself slowly awaken, and decided to make the heavy mood lighten up a bit, at least for her anyways. "I will place the ducky in the carriage in the palm tree, Sir Washington! Don't worry! I won't let it bite off another finger! Neigh, neigh! Woof, woof! Meow! No, don't let the monster cupcake eat me!"

Yakushin's eyes widned in fear and he grasped Percy's dagger in fear. "Who—who are you?" he asked, but she was already gone, whisked away.

When Katie finally opened her eyes, she sat up and stretched her arms out, thinking about her dream, about Alaster and his "friends," and she knew she was one of them. She turned and heard crinkling sounds behind her. Using the moonlight as a guide, she pulled a taped piece of paper from her pillow and read it.

_Thought you might need this._

She didn't need a signature to know who it was from. She slid her hand not holding the note underneath her single pillow and felt the cool touch of the gun Percy had told her to keep—because it might save her life.

Maybe Katie could remember how to hypnotize someone.

**(Does anybody else notice my chapters are getting _longer_?)**

**I am very evil. See, I left you with so much unanswered stuff, and I didn't answer very much stuff from before, and… never mind… **

**Anyway, _review_ and I'll update sooner! (You can ask questions, flame (though I highly doubt you'll do this one because it's the fourth chapter), say how much you love it, etc., etc., etc….)**

**Seriously guys, I have so many favorites and follows; then I have less than ten reviews. It sort of makes me sad.**

**So, REVIEW, FAVORITE, FOLLOW! (What? I still _love_ favorites and follows.)**

**Peace and all that other stuff,**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX **


	5. First Thing You See

This is to blueper, because questions were asked, and I feel the need to answer them.

**THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR FAVORITES, FOLLOWS AND REVIEWS! They make me all warm and fuzzy inside. **

**Warning: I'm not gonna put these anymore; you know the drill. OOCness and such.**

**Disclaimer: ****_Fan_****fiction. I am a fan, thus not being the author. 'Nuff said.**

First Thing You See

**_Katie Gardner's POV_**

**_February 18, 2005. _**

**To say Katie was a nervous wreck would be a total lie.**

She was trying to keep calm—not knock out the doctors and nurses and drag her best friend, Percy Jackson, out the door—while at the same time act cool and collected for said best friend. It wasn't working out too well for her.

She'd "accidently" tripped three doctors, broken three bags of donated blood, and ripped off the crisp white jackets of nurses off of some nurses.

What? She liked the number three; it was good luck.

Well, she also broke one IV, but that doesn't count. She was positive the doctor was going to stab her with it! Even though he was twenty feet away…

Yeah, Katie Gardner does _not_ do hospitals.

She clutched Percy's hand tightly as the clock ticked by—one second closer for each _tick_. He was actually doing better at staying calm than she was, and he was the one who was about to get operated on! He squeezed her hand back calmly, like he wasn't flipping out, which she knew he was; whenever he was really angry, sad, upset, panicked, nervous, or anything else of the sorts, he grew stony, like he had never even heard of the word "emotion."

"It's going to be okay," he said, rubbing his middle finger and thumb together, another antic Katie knew; he was thinking of something to say, loop-holing all his words.

She took his hand in both of hers and played with his fingers. "How do you know?" she asked, but she already knew the answer to that.

Percy gave a weak grin. "Now that's a stupid question." He turned to face her, like he was already looking at her, but that wouldn't even begin to happen for another thirty seven minutes and four seconds. "I just know, okay?"

She nodded and released a deep breath of air. "Okay, you're right. It'll be fine."

After that they began talking to each other about random things that popped into Percy's ADHD brain, like how he loved berries but could not eat a large portion of them or he'd break out in a bright red rash. The time passed by too quickly for Katie, and soon a doctor came striding in, kicking out everybody in the room.

Before the doctor could shove her out the door though, Katie rushed to Percy's side and took his hand. He turned to face her—he always did—and she forced him to look however much he could in his imagination at her face. "Perseus Jackson, I swear I'll be the first thing you see, whether you like it or not.

He popped his thumb knuckle and gave the tiniest of nods at her. "Thank you," he whispered.

Then Katie rushed out the door.

Waiting felt like an eternity, and she finally knew what Percy felt like during boring events—like the world had stopped rotating and orbiting. During her long wait however, she did get to talk to Sally Jackson, AKA _Best Mother Ever_, who she didn't get to see very often. They were conversing about what Percy did at the other's, what he acted like, etc., when Ms. Jackson brought up a very… uhhh… kept quiet question.

"So how did you two do it, raise all the money?" she asked, fiddling with her fingers.

Katie's eyes glanced at the closed door leading to Percy's operation room, an idea forming in her mind, the way Percy taught her. "We begged." It wasn't a lie, not at all; it was more truth than things kept hidden.

Because information isn't a secret if nobody's asked about it.

"Oh." Ms. Jackson's brows furrowed. "Okay."

Katie could not help the small pang of guilt that wrapped around her heart; yeah, they'd begged, but by telling the sad, sad tale of Percy's life and how he was a poor blind boy who only wished to see his mother once again. It worked the charm, and the duo had raised more than enough money to pay for many operations on Percy's eyes. But it didn't make it all right. The played the people on the streets like a piano—sometimes one at a time, sometimes more, but still getting what they wanted all the same.

And just like that, she didn't have to say anymore, because the doctor came prancing out. "You all can go in now," she told them, yanking off her jacket and heading for the cafeteria.

She practically broke down the door sprinting into the room, but Katie didn't care—she had made a promise, and a promise is a promise.

She leaned over his head, to where their foreheads were only inches apart.

Then he opened his eyes.

That was the first time Katie Gardner ever saw the sea green eyes of Perseus Jackson.

**_Percy Jackson's POV _**

**Before the operation, Percy had been a nervous ball that was about to explode through the door and smash everything in reach.**

Now, he felt slightly—what's the word?—loopy. The world seemed like this magical happy place where everything was perfect and everyone was perfect. It's a good thing that only lasted a very short moment; that sort of medicine wore off him quicker than normal people.

That was when he noticed the world was dark, there was still nothing. Panic arouse within him. He should be able to see at least a little bit now! Didn't he just have _eye_ surgery, for his _eyes_, so he could _see_?

Wait. His eyes were closed.

Maybe not all of that medicine had worn off quite yet.

He creaked them open slowly, still not quite believing that he would be able to _see_. He blinked again. Okay, he had been told that the process would be slow and that he would need several eye surgeries. But there was just a big blob in front of his face.

Then the blob spoke. "Hey, Percy, you alright?" Katie. The blob was Katie Gardner.

He saw a change in the lighting and shadows and realized that she was waving, and he could see it. Barely—he could see it barely, but it was more than not at all! He snatched up her hand and waved it around. He could feel the smile stretching across his face. "I saw it!" Percy exclaimed.

Katie snickered. "Told ya I'd be the first thing you saw."

XxXxX

**Percy opened his eyes every time to Katie.**

Each time he saw more and more of her face—her thick brown hair, tan complexion, and grass green eyes. Secretly, Katie and Percy were examining how quickly his eyes were improving, since he healed way better and faster than the average human. They were right to do so, too, because with each surgery, his eyesight improved twice as much as it usually would.

Now, he could actually _see_—see light and shadow and color. It was a tad-bit blurry, but he could deal; it definitely trumped over being completely and utterly blind.

He had missed seeing so much. And he could finally see snow (but he had to wait, because it wasn't winter), his drawing and paintings, his best friend that he had never seen before, and his _mother_. Wasn't that sad, that he didn't get to actually _see_ his own mom for the longest of times? It was to him.

Percy was walking in for his final eye surgery, and by now he was pretty used to it all; he was not by far loving being in the hospital, not even liking it, but he knew the doctors would help. A hospital was not the same an asylum, that's for sure.

He stepped into the room, squinting in the particularly dim light. His doctor clopped in behind him. "Hello, Mr. Jackson," she said while keeping her eyes attached to her clipboard. "I see that this is your last surgery. And don't worry about the lighting. We'll brighten it up.

Percy only nodded mutely. Here he goes.

**_Katie Gardner's POV_**

**Katie held the gift-wrapped present tightly in her arms.**

It was the day before Percy's eleventh birthday, and the day of his last operation. It was driving her insane, just _waiting_. She had, of course, been there when he opened his eyes, but she had to leave right after to help set up her house for Percy's birthday celebration. He could not come because the doctor had wanted to speak to him and his mother. Stupid doctor—he was fine, better than fine!

There was a knock at the door, and she immediately went on high alert; no one could be too safe if they spent time with Percy. _Probably Ms. Jackson_, she thought. Percy never knocked; he simply barged in like he owned the place, but he did spend a good portion of his time in her small little home right on the outskirts of the city.

"Come in. Come in." Her father waved them into the house by the front door, and she held her breath as Percy, ever the dramatic, took slow, meaningful steps into the house. Then he stepped out from beside his mother and gave a tight smile, holding a small brown paper bag.

Katie laughed.

Percy scrunched up his nose. "Don't laugh," he whined. "It's not funny."

"Yes—it is," she choked out.

Propped up on his nose were the thickest, widest, geekiest glasses she had ever seen. They were overly large and kept slipping down his nose, and the outside was rimmed in broad pitch black plastic. Like a nerd's from a movie. All he needed were braces. For any other person, it wouldn't be all that funny, but they were on _Percy Jackson_, who had previously worn only _sunglasses_; it was a dramatic change in style.

He was about to launch his paper bag at her, but thankfully Ms. Jackson stopped him, holding onto his aiming arm. "Percy, no," she ordered. "These are your medications. They'll help you, remember? And they are very expensive, and unless you want to be paying for them, I advise you do not try to hit Katie with them." She gave him a hard, warning look.

Percy sighed. "Yes, ma'am," he mumbled, then looked up at her—actually _looked_ at her, like never thought possible—a devious smile making way across his face. He decided to make one last argument: "Hey, Katie, did you realize that you weren't the first thing I saw with these glasses? I thought you said you would _always_ be the first thing I saw?"

Katie fumed silently. "Then I guess we'll have to fix that."

**Wow. This is pretty short for me; it's not even two thousand words yet. **

**Anyway, REVIEW! **

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX **


	6. Issues

**THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR FOLLOWS, FAVORITES, AND REVIEWS! **

**I DO NOT OWN.**

Issues

**_Katie Gardner's POV_**

Percy has now lived in my house for a couple of months; it was early November. During the time he spent living with me and my daddy, I've learned some very interesting things about Percy.

1._ Percy does not cry—at all._ Some kid called him stupid and pushed him off the swing set, breaking a bone in his hand, and Percy didn't even wince. There were no tears whatsoever.

2._ Percy did not like giving out information about himself._ Every time some person asked what his name was, he would answer with a name that wasn't his, like Michael, Steve, Malcolm, or even Muhammad once. He wouldn't even tell people what color his eyes were!

3._ Percy had no fear._ I would watch with amazement as he would fearlessly jump out of the truck every time my daddy mentioned an adoption center or whatnot. Then Percy would hike up the road to some unknown destination. He would walk off and enter the real world, which I was always told was bad, with no thought process of bad things that could happen to him. I actually had a hard time telling if it was because he didn't care or if he really was fearless sometimes.

4._ Percy really was a child prodigy._ He would easily answer any math question—such as 123,456 divided by 3 equals 41,152—in seconds, and he would sprout random facts and quotes from books. He was learning the piano and the guitar even though he was blind, and spent the first years if his life drawing magnificent pictures.

5._ Percy loved his mommy._ Everyone guessed that he had run away, maybe because he had no parents, but no—he had a loving mother who was probably worried sick for his safety. Percy would talk about how great she was for hours on end.

6._ Percy had imaginary friends. _He called them "shadow friends," but it was all the same to me. Though he would argue otherwise: "Imaginary friends are people you admire. Shadow friends are just annoying and are going to get me sent to jail." He would talk to them aimlessly while in the garden and save seats for them at dinner. Each one had a name and special personality.

7._ Percy was crazy. _My grandfather had said so. He had a degree in child phycology, and was persistent on getting through to everyone that Percy was insane. Not that he would send Percy off or anything. At least, I hoped not. I liked Percy; he was a nice friend once you got to know him.

These facts were swirling in my head as I followed Percy, under Grandpa's orders, in the garden. He was whispering and smiling to a person who didn't exist. I checked my small garden as he blindly went in a circle, waving his arms for emphasis as he started talking to Penny, who wasn't real. "No, no, no! _No_ throwing pies at people's faces!" he whisper shouted. "And _no_, I won't do it for you either!"

Truthfully, I didn't understand the whole "madness" thing. Daddy said I was too young, and that I would understand when I got older.

Too bad for him; I didn't want to wait.

"Percy? Percy?" I went up behind him and latched my hand onto his wrist.

He turned, not surprised at all. "Yes, Butterfly?"

There were two more things for the list:

8._ Percy could not be surprised. _Even though he could not see a thing, it was like he could, because he could tell you when a phone was about to ring or if someone was heading our way.

9._ Percy liked to give people nicknames, just to annoy them. _Mine was 'Butterfly,' and Grandpa's was 'Pops.' I got mine after I started chasing a butterfly around the garden, and then began describing it like it was the best thing in the world when Percy asked; Grandpa got his because Percy thought "Grandpa" or "Grandfather" were old, boring, and over used. My daddy was still waiting anxiously for his.

I ground my teeth, and then remembered my question. "Do you really believe that they're real?"

"You mean my shadow friends? Well, what do you think?" He tilted his head to the side and raised his left eyebrow to where it barely showed over the top of his sunglasses.

"I don't know! That's why I'm asking!"

He shrugged, a smirk playing upon his face. Walking backwards, he continued, "Sure you don't know. Answer this: Do you believe your Pops more? Or me?"

I pondered that and mindlessly followed Percy as he climbed onto my home's front porch.

Really, now that I think of it, I was really stupid as a seven year old and should have been paying attention.

Finally, I answered: "You haven't said anything for me to believe and—oh." I was on top of the roof, and Percy was smirking a triumphant smirk, standing at the ledge, looking like he could fall at any second—which was, indeed, correct. "Oh my—What am I doing up here?!" I shrieked, crouching down so I could grasp the roof tiles with my hands.

He threw his head back and laughed a _real_ laugh. Unbelievable! I could roll off the roof at any possible second and he was laughing and standing like there wasn't a worry in the world, like it was normal to be on the roof. Of course, anything to do with Percy was not by any standards considered _normal_. "Stand up," he ordered kindly. "I won't let you fall."

I shook, but I followed his directions and eventually stood up on the roof, perfectly balanced. "Hey, this isn't so bad."

"Nope." He pats me on the back as a joke, teasing me as soon as I shrieked and bent me knees.

"That was mean, Percy." I made my best sad face, but Percy didn't care—he couldn't see it. Duh!

He smiled, but this one seemed fake; most of his smiles were fake, actually. I was the only person who could tell half the time. "I'm sorry that I did something mean, Butterfly," he teased. Then he furrowed his brows and held his hands out to his sides. "Is the sun setting already?"

I looked up, still clutching the tiles but slowly rising. "Yep." I stood up straighter, holding my hands out to my sides for balance. I knew what he was about to ask. He always asked.

"What does it look like? The sunset, I mean." He had a mournful expression on his face.

I sighed quietly, but not in irritation; more like in sadness. What could it possibly be like to be brought to a world of dark, after so many years of light? I balanced my way over to him and turned him to face the sunset. Standing behind him, I felt really sad when I finally saw the sunset. It was gorgeous.

"Okay, you already know the sun is setting," I started. "The sky is a mixture of orange and red, but there are also clouds that look pinkish. The sun itself is bright, bright orange, lighter on the outside and darker as you go to the center. It's close too, looks huge. Oh, and you remember Mrs. Ganes apple tree, right? The one you always take apples from? It's like on the left inside part of sun, pitch black, like… a shadow. No color."

I continued like that, more than likely repeating myself numerous times, but Percy enjoyed it. I was his eyes. After each description he would and talk to himself some more.

"Oh, and there are some birds flying in front of the sun now. I don't know what type…"

"Crows, over the top part, right?" Percy turned around to face me, turning his back to the sun.

"R—right. How did you know?"

He shrugged, a small movement of his shoulders. "Ryan told me. He doesn't say much though, so I let him tell me all the stuff you forget or don't know." He turned back to the sunset.

"Ooookkkkaaaayyyy… That—that makes sense." I gulped. _So shadow friends can also see for him? What was this guy? Psychic? _

"Done," I complained after a while. "I can't say any more. My vocabulary isn't that big." I took steps back, and he turned his back to the sinking sun, still on the very edge of the roof.

"Maybe you're lithological," Percy joked.

"What?" I asked.

"It means you cannot think of the word you want to use. Well, in your case, you don't even know what word you want to use."

I nodded like that made sense. "Where do you even learn these words?"

He winced. "My mom wants to be an author, and Jess and Thax use words like that."

Jess and Thax. They were also shadow friends. Oh joy. It's time for more _awesomeness_. Sarcasm included.

"Do you think they're real, Percy?" I asked.

"You already asked that, and no, I don't. I know they are not real, nor are they hallucinations, for your information. I created them." Last fading sunlight bounced off his sunglasses.

I blinked in surprise. "But you treat them so _real_… Everyone figured you thought they were real."

"Well, I do not, thank you very much. I'm not that much of a mental nutcase." He gave a fake, empty grin. It was completely worthless in my book. Didn't do a thing but build up his little façade. _Why couldn't everyone else see it—his act?_

Another thing on the list:

10._ Percy hid his emotions most of the time. _He was seriously the world's best actor. He would give out fake smiles and laughs just to show people he wasn't all that sad, which he was, though I didn't know why. When he was extra sad, he would simply give a tight smile than ask to go to his room, where I would hear him critiquing his every action, where he would call himself stupid and useless.

Oh, the joys of being a genius seven year-old.

"How can you tell they are hallucinations, if you were—are…?" I searched for the word.

Percy beat me to it. "—mental? Easy. I can see them with my eyes."

"That… doesn't make sense." I placed my index finger on my chin, making my _thinking face_.

"Sure it does." He shrugged, another smirk playing on his lips.

Where was that nagging feeling when I really needed it? I didn't want to feel like an idiot in front of Percy—_again_. "How?" I asked.

"Blind people don't see with their eyes, Katie." He tapped the top of his sunglasses, and they reflected light all over, like in a movie. If I tried hard enough, I swear I could see the faint outline of his eyes. Then he raised his arms out to his sides—

—and fell.

Percy Jackson fell from the top of my home, which was two and a half stories high. (There was an architectural problem, and the basement stuck out from the ground more than usual.)

"Percy!" I screeched, racing to the edge, not even caring if I fell. I peeked over the edge, and there he was—perfectly safe; on the ground; hands up in the air as if he'd stuck the landing, which was highly possible; and then waving for me to join him.

_As if! _I was not _that_ crazy.

Turns out I didn't need to be crazy; my hands did the job for me. My hands, sweaty from nervousness, slipped from the tiles, and I tumbled forward, falling, falling, falling. I braced myself for impact by closing my eyes tight and hunching my shoulders.

I did another flip in the air, my feet aimed for the ground.

Then something_ really_ weird happened, and I lived with Percy Jackson, where everything was _extremely_ weird by normal standards.

I landed on Percy.

He, being the blind guy he was, had not realized that I was falling where he was standing, only that I was screaming my head off and the scream seemed to be getting closer.

There goes genius out the window.

But when I landed on Percy, I didn't exactly _land_ on him, so to speak.

He tuned at the last second, held out his arms, and caught me—bridal style.

He laughed and dropped me—just _dropped_ me—on the ground. "Wow, Butterfly, first you get onto _me_ for landing on you, then _you_ go and try to land on me? That's hypocritical."

Jeez, people! We were _seven_! What does hypo—hippopotamus… _hypocritical _even mean?

I didn't bother to ask, because Percy would probably just say another big word that I didn't know the meaning to—or, as he'd say, the _definition_ to.

Being best friends with a vocabulary freak had its perks.

I stood up and gave him a friendly shove. "Not funny, Percy. I just fell from the roof."

"So did I," he countered.

"No, you jumped from the roof," I pointed out. "Even if you didn't nec… necis… _necessarily_ jump."

He cocked his head to the side. "Good point. And exceptional vocabulary. It's better than some adults'."

I smiled from the praise. _Go me!_ We both started heading for inside, and this time we didn't end up with a detour to the roof.

When we stepped inside, Daddy told us to go wash out hands, because dinner was being served. He eyed Percy warily, as if he expected him to go out and chuck a fork at him because Penny told him to. Percy nudged me and said, "Staring is rude, Mr. Gardner." He paused. "I still don't have a nickname for you? Does _Bogart_ do? It's a Dutch name that means apple garden. You get 'garden' in your name, and I get 'apples' with it, too."

My daddy flushed a dark red color. He mouthed to me, _How can he tell?_

I mouthed back, _Shadow friends are strange._ I don't know if he understood it, since I was a horrible mouth speaker (person who mouths words, lip reader—no… Forget it), but Percy sure got it.

"Shadow friends are strange, Bogart, but they keep me connected with the real world. They tell me things, like how got your nose broken when you were fifteen because you tried to kiss a girl, but she punched you. It wasn't what you were expecting, huh?"

I don't know if Percy was talking about the punch or his knowing in the first place. Either way, they were both creepy.

That brings me to another thing I learned about Percy:

11._ Percy was scary. _He could get people to do whatever he wanted, whether it was by tricking them or commanding them. He knew things that people had never told anyone in their life. He knew what went through people's minds. He could get into peoples' heads, and he would stay there until they were screaming for him to leave. It was all so nerve wrecking and uncanny and frightening. _He could do anything he wanted_. If he wanted something badly enough, _no one could stop him_.

My daddy's eyes widened and he went to go finish dinner. Percy and I went to go wash our hands in the restroom. I was high-strung and nervous until all of us were sitting at the dinner table, feeling my heart race at a gazillion miles per second.

It's not like he would hurt me, right?

Now I knew why my daddy and grandpa were so jittery and wary around Percy.

I couldn't tell.

Nobody could tell.

"Pass the salt, please," I said, feeling my nervousness disappear. Percy was nice; he couldn't even step on an ant on purpose.

"Okay." Percy was sitting to my right, and he reached out and snatched the salt for me. Before he handed it to me, though, he shook it over his own food. He placed it in front of my plate. "There. Now you can have it."

Whoever said blind people couldn't do anything for themselves was pretty… well… _stupid_. And this is coming from a seven year-old!

Grandpa, who was having dinner with us, was sitting in front of me, and he gave a small grunt of distaste. "Pops wants the salt, too, Butterfly," Percy told me, taking the salt and sliding it across the table in one smooth motion. "Then Bogart can take it."

Grandpa and Daddy didn't argue and took the salt, sprinkling some on their dinner plates. Daddy gave in first. "It does taste better this way. Thank you, Percy." He made a face like it hurt to say that.

"I may be no cook, but I know when something needs the wonder of salt. Salt is awesome. Pepper is okay, too, but I'd rather dump it." Percy had a mischievous smile on his face.

All I could think was, _No, no, no, no, no… _

He grabbed the black pepper and dumped it all over the table. "Tell me, does it look like snow?" he asked.

It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. My daddy was fuming, his face red all over, his hands outstretched like he wanted to choke Percy to an inch of his life.

Grandpa held out an arm. "Don't, son. I will talk to him. I am a child psychologist."

He left, practically dragging Percy behind him, who had a look of triumph and… guilt? Percy could feel guilt, just like his weird joy for annoying people?

12._ Percy cared. _He wasn't selfish. He didn't just do whatever he felt like. Percy actually cared about other people around him, even if he didn't know them all that well, like when he asked why a middle-aged women was crying; he ended up comforting her for over an hour, too stubborn to be dragged away. He never did tell us why she was crying in the first place. He said he was sworn to secrecy.

I followed my grandfather to the office, and maybe, possible, most likely eavesdropped in on the conversation he was having with my best friend. "Now, Percy," Grandpa was saying. "Why'd you do it?"

"I felt like it. I was bored," Percy replied breezily.

"Why were you bored?"

"I lived in the woods and on the run. A normal day for me is an exciting day for you."

I heard papers being shuffled. I was really worried about my grandpa; Percy had told me that he had had a therapist before. It didn't end well. "Can you tell me what it was like, Percy?"

"Can I cut your hair?" I couldn't tell if Percy was saying this to prove a point, or if he really wanted to cut my grandfather's hair, which was quite a bit for someone so old.

"Excuse me?" Grandpa asked.

"Can—I—cut—your—hair? It has a simple answer to a simple question."

"Why would I say yes?"

"Because I'll talk." Was Percy making a deal with my grandfather? From the information I know about Percy, he'll talk, but not about what you want. He'll either make it seem better or will divert the attention elsewhere.

"Fine."

_Wha…? _

I cracked the door open a bit, just enough to where I could see Percy holding a pair of scissors by my scared grandpa.

_Snip_,_ snip_,_ snip_. Percy cut his hair. "It's not that bad, actually, the woods and stuff. It's a big change from cities and all, but it's quiet and peaceful. If I could see, I would also say beautiful…" He chattered on and on and on, talking about how he had to get food and a time where he accidently ran into the police, who realized he was a run away. That was why he ran into the rodeo the way he did; he was escaping the police.

When Grandpa finally opened his eyes, he was looking at a mirror. "Wow… This actually looks… _good_."

"See? I'm not bad at cutting hair. I just needed a new experience. Thanks for being my, ummm, prototype, you could say. You could've been stabbed for all I know."

"Oh."

On that happy note, Percy began talking about gorillas. "Have you ever seen a gorilla? I went to a zoo when I was six and saw one. It was big, but I couldn't get close 'cause there was this big glass window caging the gorilla in. Why do people call animals 'it?' It doesn't make sense. There are boys and girls. Did you know gorillas…"

I added one more thing onto my list of things I learned about Percy:

13._ Percy does not have issues. _He's just different. He sees the world differently and expresses himself differently. And he just had terrible luck with people, I guess, because no one else understands. Like me with that weird fear of the number thirteen… _triskaidekaphobia_.

**Longer, yes? It is nine pages. Is it funny? Sorry there isn't as much action. I'll make the next one more, uh, action-y. It seems a little jumpy to me though… **

**_Review_****, favorite, follow! **

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX **


	7. Skydiving

**THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS, FAVORITES, FOLLOWS, AND EVEN VIEWS! And I am so, so, so, so, ****_so_**** sorry for not updating sooner; it's been crazy with random interruptions of my internet connection and all my family's cleaning and my babysitting. No excuse though, I know. **

**Anyway, this, people, is gonna drive you insane! Just read. :P**

**I DO NOT OWN.**

Skydiving

**_Katie Gardner's POV_**

**The whole thing was Katie's grandfather's idea, **after he saw Percy jump off the roof for the first time.

She really didn't know how he could have only witnessed the act just that summer, after all the times that Percy had been at their home since she was seven. Seriously, they were _nine_ now. It took two years to know that Percy had this weird obsession with the sky?!

It was ridiculous.

She groaned and followed the two to her grandpa's home. If only Percy hadn't leapt off the roof… again. If only Pops hadn't noticed it because Percy always jumped off the roof. If only her grandfather did not have his own personal airplane that he could fly.

She might as well write her will now.

"Katie, what's wrong?" her dad, who was behind her holding a video camera, asked.

She turned to face him, walking backwards. "What makes you ask that? And why're you holding a video camera? We'll be up in the sky, ya know."

He furrowed his brows. "Katie, you're avoiding the answer. What's wrong?"

Her nose twitched, and she blinked a couple of times quickly. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

Percy bumped her shoulder, an evil smirk on his face—seriously, the smirk would make the devil jealous; that's how evil it looked. "Yeah, Butterfly, what's wrong?" he mocked, fingering the top of his sunglasses.

Katie glared at him. "Okay, ya wanna know what's wrong? Here's what's wrong—I'm about to _die_ because of you."

His smirk only widened. "Now, what makes you say that?" He dashed off when she lunged for him.

Wimp.

She muttered under her breath about death-bringing best friends and stomped after her grandfather, who was opening the garage door. "And presenting… da da da dun!" he exclaimed, lifting the door to reveal one of those old timey airplanes that have a propeller on the nose and only two seats.

Two seats that don't have any way of keeping the riders in, besides seatbelts.

Great.

Katie forced a smile on her face and bumped Percy to gain his attention. She pointed, even though he couldn't see her finger, at the plane. "There's a propeller. It's this weird shade of yellow, almost brown like. The plane itself is red. And—" She looked at Grandpa. "Did you name it?" she asked him.

He nodded. "Irene. Named it like a boat. Painted on its side."

She continued, "Its name is Irene and the name is painted right over here." She dragged Percy over to the left side of the airplane, which had the name painted in a fancy script in gold.

Percy traced his fingers over the name, and then placed his palm on the old, peeling paint. "Let's get this thing up in the air!" A smile broke out on his face, and he leapt up onto a wing before seating himself in the back seat. For someone who was just skin over bone, he had some wicked moves.

Grandpa made a strangling noise in the back of his throat, like this somehow bothered him, but gave a tight smile and pulled up a ladder to the plane for him to use. He pointed at the seat Percy was in. "Katie, you can just sit in the same seat as Percy is. You're both small enough."

Percy winced slightly at the description, and she climbed into the back of the plane, not as gracefully as Percy and not bothering to use the ladder like her grandfather; besides, he was moving way too slow for her taste. "Move over," she ordered Percy. He grumbled to himself, but obliged her order.

It was a nice change, to have her giving the orders instead of him.

Her grandfather _finally_ made it into his seat in the airplane, and he handed her and Percy a pair of goggles, saying they were for safety reasons and that we should not take them off.

"He didn't say we had to actually put them on," Percy muttered to Katie, and he did just as he had just pointed out. He had those sunglasses anyway.

Dad, whom she had forgotten was even in the garage, patted the side of the plane. "I'll be video tapin' the whole thing from down 'ere, guys. And when you get down, there'll be a picnic."

She leaned over the side and gave her father a tight smile, the goggle's suction pulling on her skin. "Kay, Dad. We'll be fine."

Liar. Oh, she was a liar. Nothing was ever "fine" with Percy around.

Her dad gave a smile in return and walked briskly out of the garage door.

Then they were off, speeding down the dirt runway, slowly rising into the air, soaring across the sky.

It was exhilarating. Katie could understand now why Percy yearned for the sky, to be up so high. It was unexplainable, but it was there. She never wanted to leave.

She threw her hands up. "This is amazing!" she screamed, wind whipping at her face. "Really, really amazing!" She laughed.

The words were caught in the wind, but Pops heard her—he turned his head slightly and gave her a thumbs up and sly grin—and Percy heard it.

He bumped his shoulder against hers. "Hey, wanna go skydiving?" His mischievous grin was back.

Crap.

She shouldn't have said that.

"No!" she screamed over the wind.

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay, your loss. I'm goin'." He pulled himself out of the seat and crawled over the side, going to the left wing.

She quickly began getting out of the seat as well, her hands clamping onto the side of the plane. "There aren't even any _parachutes_! How are ya gonna _skydive_ of there aren't any _parachutes_?!"

Turning to face her from the wing, arms spread wide in a shrug, he grinned at her. "It's _my_ way of skydivin'." His voice was calm, like he knew exactly what he was doing—even though he was on the wing of a plane high up in the air, and if he fell he would go _splat_! Katie didn't even know how high they were—1,000, 2,000 feet? More?—but she knew that it was _not possible_ to survive a fall that far without anything to slow it down.

It was suicidal.

Katie couldn't help but wonder what made suicidal things so intriguing to Percy.

"Your way is gonna get you killed then," she told him, trying to figure out a way to get onto the wing without, you know, _dying_.

Death by falling off a plane while trying to save best friend from doing something stupid—only she would get that one in a gazillion possibility.

By now her grandpa had noticed Percy on the left wing, and his eyes widened behind his goggles. "What are ya doin' on there, boy?" His voice was high with panic. "Get down!" The plane swerved slightly, but Percy held his ground, not even swaying.

_Stupid_, she thought. _Don't say_ down, _because he'll get_ down.

"Watch out, Pops. You don't want me to fall, do you?" Percy asked. Her grandfather quickly straightened out the airplane, not daring to turn.

"Fall to your doom!" Katie shouted, leaning onto the edge, undecided on whether she should stay safe in the seat or hop onto that wing and follow that crazed child.

He began stepping backwards, closer and closer to the tip of the wing. "Okay, Pops. I'll get down. I'll start falling to my 'doom.'" His lips twitched into that totally _unbearable_ smirk and arms spread wide, he started falling, falling, falling down.

That was it for her. She leapt up from the seat and landed on the wing in a crouch. Quickly standing, she balanced her way over to the tip of the wing, where Percy had started his descend into doom. "Katie Gardner!" her grandfather shouted. "What are you doing?! Didn't your teachers teach you anything?! When a friend jumps off a cliff, _you don't have to_!" He was practically hyperventilating.

She sighed. "That's the thing, Grandpa. When Percy tells you to jump, you ask how high. Anybody who follows him will tell you the same thing." She glanced back at him—his agape mouth and wide eyes. "Sorry, but when Percy does some'in', people follow, even if it does seem fatal."

Katie looked down and noticed a large lake below them. She remembered that if people fall from a really great height, landing on water was like going _ka-splat_ on concrete. Grimacing, she readied herself for the final jump, her final leap of faith. Then, she fell, just like Percy had.

_I wonder if I land hard enough, I can literally dig my own grave_, she wondered as she plummeted faster and faster. _An underwater grave always seemed pretty cool_.

Her arms and legs were flailing, and she was twisting and turning and flipping over and over. She knew she should stay still, that she would slow down that way, but her natural instincts were screaming at her to reach out and grab something—_anything_—to stop her. Wind was sucking the air from her lungs and freezing her skin. Her ears were filled with only the howling of it as she fell. Everything was foggy and her sense of direction was failing her.

Then through her goggles, she spotted a sky blue dot—Percy Jackson's shirt.

He was perfectly still, arms together over his head and legs slightly bent behind him. He easily came to her, or maybe it was she went to him. "Stick out your arm and legs," he ordered her, now back to the usual.

Her brain told her instead to reach out and slap him, but her body followed his orders without her telling it to; it was like he had trained her to do everything he said, which was stupid, because it was bound to be her end. She asked over the wind, "Now what?" Since she was finally gaining control over her emotions, she realized that he was somehow still wearing those wretched sunglasses, and his beanie was clutched in his hand, allowing his charcoal black hair to flow freely in the wind; his chain was trailing him, snapping and clinking every few seconds.

"Dive into the lake!" With that, he turned his head to the ground and began diving to the lake.

_What?!_

His body sliced through the wind like he was already diving through water. Just to show off, he did a dozen flips in the air, body tightly tucked in, before he straightened out and did a perfect dive into the water.

Katie's turn was approaching like lightning. She wasn't ready. She wasn't ready. She wasn't ready!

_Too bad_, gravity seemed to say.

And Katie dove into the stinging water, the warmth it gained from the summer sun a relief from the bitter, biting cold of the sky. She opened her eyes to the strangely clear water of the lake. For a short while, she just sat (floated—whatever) there, at the bottom of the lake, before her lungs began burning for oxygen. She kicked off the bottom, gasping and coughing as she surfaced.

Dad was waving from the edge, body soaking from his dip in the water he had taken to search for his daughter… and Percy. She gulped in breaths of air and began swimming toward her father, clothes weighing her down.

Upon arrival, her father and grandfather, who had landed the plane as soon as she jumped, had yanked her out of the water. "Katie, what were you _thinking_?" her dad shouted at her, clutching at her shoulders.

She shrugged. "That I had to follow. It's what I do."

"You could have died!" His face looked more bewildered than worried now.

"Yeah. And so could have Percy. But we're fine." _Percy. _Where was that maniac anyways? She shoved off her dad's hands. "Hey, speaking of Percy, where is he?" She scanned the surface of the lake, which was much bigger than it had seemed from thousands of feet in the air. "Percy!" she called, hands cupped around her mouth.

Grandpa walked up to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "He—he hasn't surfaced yet. We don't think he… made it. I'm sorry."

She made a face at him. "Well, that's an idiotic notion. Of course Percy made it. He wouldn't just experience one of the most amazing things ever and not _make it_. He's gonna show up and rub it in my face that I was scared, and as it turns out it was for nothing, because that was awesome." She meant it, too. The whole free falling thing—she would never be able to call it "skydiving"—was fantastic. Once she got over the whole I-am-going-to-die part, which was when she hit the surface of the water, she realized that it was, to put simply, _epic_; it was epic.

E-P-I-C.

Katie plopped down on the edge of the lake, basking in the sun, awaiting her best friend. Everyone was silent. The only sounds were those of birds chirping and the occasional fish darting in the water.

For a whole minute and a half it was like this.

She began to worry. Surely not even Percy could hold his breath this long, especially not after having the wind steal his breath away?

She began to panic as the minute grew.

"Honey," her father started, but she was already off, surging through the water, calling his name over and over.

"Percy! Percy! Percy, where are you?"

"Katie, get back here," someone sighed, and then there were arms around her waist, dragging her out of the water.

"No! I have to find Percy!" she screeched, turning on the person, fist ready to strike. When she finally saw the person, all she could say was, "Oh."

He was crunching an apple, propping his sunglasses up higher onto his nose. "Yeah," he said "'oh,' to you, too. Don't you remember your dad mentioning a picnic?" He waved the apple around. "I've been sittin' over there, waitin' for you guys to come over 'nd eat, but _no_, I have to come and get you guys. And look at you—screamin' and all in the lake. Get out." He waved his hand and headed for the red and white picnic blanket.

She didn't understand the _look_ bit, but she followed him anyways, passing by her wonderstruck father and grandfather. "Yes, Percy." She turned to the wonderstruck duo. "Told you." Then she muttered to herself, "I can't believe I actually got worried like that."

Katie's punishment was Percy constantly teasing her about being scared to skydive and then being scared that he was dead.

After that little incident with them falling from a plane and all, the guardians didn't allow Katie and Percy to even get close to the airplane. It was against the rules—seriously, there was a sign and everything.

But that didn't stop them.

Percy, using that insanely big brain of his, had built a remote control to the airplane so it could fly, like it was on autopilot; he had her help, of course—for her eyes.

And when her grandpa and dad left, even for only a short while, they would sprint to the garage and switch on the engine. Percy would set the remote control on the ground, and the plane would lift off.

Then, at the right height and over the right place, they would fall—first Percy, always Percy, and then Katie.

She was learning, too. That moment, before you jump off the diving board for the first time since the summer before, where your heart rate speeds up slightly and you tuck your arms in, was disappearing for her. She would hesitate at first, but only at first, because then she would be falling, falling, falling. She would flip and twist because she wanted to, and she would scream with exhilaration every single time.

She even began to do free falls where she didn't dive into the lake.

But the feeling was always electric, whether she landed in the water or onto trees. With her blood pumping and wind tearing every single worry from her, it always seemed so _perfect_.

And Katie kind of, sort of, maybe understood Percy's pull to these suicidal things now.

**_Explanation_****: Okay, if you cannot tell by now, I love loopholes. In ****_The Lightning Thief_****, Percy said he had never been on a plane because his family didn't have the money. Well, I took that and made it to where he had been on a plane without the need for money, but his mother never knew. And the whole sky thing? You'll see.**

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX **


	8. Heartbeat

**Okay, don't kill me for being a terrible updater. I've been busy, and from now on I probably won't update very often, even if it's summer break. That's a promise. Apologies accepted? **

**I DO NOT OWN. **

Heartbeat

**_Katie Gardner's POV_**

**Katie was seriously about to lose it.**

It had been quiet lately, nothing much happening, and it was driving her crazy. In her mind, it was like the calm before a storm, but this calm had been around for a week. A week! Ever since she found out about Percy's illegal doings when she was nine, she knew that _quiet_ meant _bad_. Recently, she had found out how so very-much true that was.

Now, sitting on her old bed in her new home—which was still weird and foreign to her—with Percy _tap-tap-tapping_ away on his laptop, Katie went over the numbers again in her head: seven days since the last arrest; six days till Percy's last eye surgery. She was trapped right in the middle of two nerve wrecking situations!

She dared a glance a Percy, asking, "What do you think'll happen?"

Percy didn't even skip a beat before answering: "About not getting arrested? Well, I think you'll be in for a surprise." Then after a moment, he added, "Stop moving. There's no reason to be so jittery."

Her eyes widened. "How can you be so—so _calm_?" It was more of an accusation than a question.

He shrugged. "I'm used to it."

Katie was about to add more, but she was interrupted by her father yelling, "Dinner!" up the stairs. She gave a sneaking glance at her best friend, and then all worries melted away as they raced down the stairs as fast as they could, bumping and pushing and screaming as they stumbled.

Like normal kids—kids who didn't have to worry about the FBI or CSI or Secret Service barging down their doors at any given moment.

Katie pushed Percy behind her and leapt down the last few steps, landing on her feet and sticking her arms up in the air. "And she sticks the landing!"

Percy snorted, jumping down the last few steps as well and actually sticking the landing. "_That's _sticking the landing, Butterfly." Then he sauntered off, leaving her awestruck.

"No fair!" she screamed, about to pounce. "I jumped at the last second. You had time!"

He turned at the last second, swinging her around so she landed on her feet in front of him. "Silly Katie, no one has time." Patting her cheek and giving a smug grin, he sped off to the dinner table, only stopping to give his mother a kiss on the cheek.

Fuming slightly, Katie stomped to the table to grab a plate and dish out herself some spaghetti. "It still isn't fair," she complained under her breath, but Percy heard her.

He gave a wry grin, serving himself some spaghetti, too. "Nothing is fair unless you make it," he told her, that weird twinkle in his eyes.

She pursed her lips and sat down, Percy then moving to her side. "Well," Ms. Jackson said, sitting down at one end of the table while her father sat at the other, "I guess we start eating." She clapped her hands together, but Katie couldn't help but snigger at her awkwardness.

Everyone dug in though, savoring Ms. Jackson's delicious cooking.

But, it was really awkward. No one said anything—not even Percy, who would usually start blabbing about something Katie didn't know about.

Eventually, it was her father who saved them from the heavy silence. "So, what do y'all miss most about Alabama?"

She already knew her answer. "Grandpa. The Maroon twins, Marcus and Marianna. The lake that we all used to swim in. The heat and humidity, because it sure isn't like that here. Our old house. Cupcake. The acres that surrounded our house. My—"

"O-kay, Katie, I think we all get it. You miss everything about Alabama. No need to tell us anymore."

She shot her best friend a sharp look. "There's also no need to interrupt me," she quipped. "Besides, it's not like you don't miss all that stuff."

Percy sighed, dropping his fork and holding up his hands. "Fine, fine, you caught me. I do miss all that stuff, especially Marcus and Marianna, and, I'll admit, that I even miss Pops."

"Pops?" Ms. Jackson asked.

Mr. Gardner laughed. "'Pops' is my dad." He shook his head. "It was the first nickname Percy here ever gave out, but it's stuck the longest. I don't think Percy has ever called my dad anything else since he gave out the name actually."

Katie wrinkled her nose. "Even I started calling him 'Pops' sometimes."

Percy laughed aloud. "That's right, Butterfly, you do call him Pops sometimes. Now, if only I can get you to call Bogart _Bogart_."

"Not gonna happen, buddy. My dad is my dad, not Bogart."

He shrugged his shoulders, that lop-sided grin glued on his face. "I figured it was worth a shot." He went back to eating, and so did everyone else.

She snorted. "Well, it wasn't."

Yeah, this was not how she expected to eat her first dinner with Ms. Jackson.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie's jitters were back.**

The dishes were clean, and the awkward tension was finally slightly loosening. Her dad and Ms. Jackson were downstairs talking about whatever adults talk about, while Percy and Katie were searching through all her junk for her scrapbooks from Alabama. She was desperate enough to find them that she was ready to dive into her ever-growing pile of dirty laundry. Percy, however, was lying on her bed, typing away again on that laptop. With the way that he was moving the mouse she guessed he was searching through pages of information and typing in codes.

"All in a day's work," he would say—meaning he was doing illegal… _stuff_. (What? Percy's cussing wasn't gonna rub off onto her. Nu-uh. No curse words for this girl.)

Why, oh _why_, did she put up with him?

"Agh!" Katie screamed, throwing a green T-shirt at the wall. "I can't find one!"

Percy looked up, cocking his head slightly to the side; his eyes furrowed. "Someone's outside."

"Not now, Percy," she whined. "I still need to find my scrapbooks. Do you know how long it took to make those? I'll give you a hint—_forever_!" She threw down a pair of jeans and stomped on it. Probably not the best way to release her anger, but oh well.

He slid his laptop off his lap. "No, no, no. I'm not playing with you, Katie." Fingering with his chain, he padded out of her room, sneaking down the stairs one at a time. Katie couldn't help but wonder if mice felt jealous when Percy snuck around and stuff, because when he wanted to, he sure was quiet. Creepily quiet. Following him, she tried to keep quiet as well.

Percy hopped off the last step and slipped past the adults to the front door, and she did the same.

It was really beginning to bother Katie how much she followed Percy around, like some sort of loyal mutt.

Right before they went outside, he grabbed his sunglasses from his shirt (because, for some weird reason, he couldn't let them go) and placed them on the tip of his nose, just low enough so that he could see without the dimming effects of sunglasses.

Then they were outside, and—yep, sure enough, as always—there was a man, smartly dressed in black dress pants, a crisp white shirt, suit jacket or whatever it's called, and black tie trailing down to Katie's nose.

Yeah, they both walked right underneath him.

The man staggered back at the sight of them—or maybe only Percy—and placed a hand by his hip. Her brain began to whir. _RING! RING! RING! RED-ALERT! RED-ALERT! RED-ALERT! THIS MAN HAS A GUN! I REPEAT, THIS MAN HAS A _GUN!

The man lowered his eye lids. "You," he whispered hoarsely, as if it were the worst thing to say ever. He pulled his hand up from his hip and—oh yeah, there it was—a gun popped up from a secret pocket or something. His hand was shaking violently, and she feared that his hand might slip and _whoops! _There's one bullet through a head.

Katie seriously wanted one of those suits, though, because they all seemed to have secret compartments.

_Focus_, she ordered herself. _Don't let the ADHD take control. _

ADHD sucks, even if it's a very mild case. Or maybe all kids had short attention spans.

Nah.

The man—who, Katie realized, had gray-white hair, a nice build, and intense gray eyes that seemed to analyze her every move—began semi-circling them. He reached his other hand to his ear, saying, "I have Subject One, Violator One right in front of me. Send in back-up immediately." Then he moved his hand from his ear over to his gun. "Hands above your heads. You especially, boy."

She looked over at Percy, who had raised his sunglasses to cover his eyes with a flick of his head, and she could tell he was rolling his eyes so much they ought to pop out. "Sir yes sir," he said in a mock voice while doing a mock bow. "Your will is my command."

Then Percy snorted. "Okay, I'm sorry, dude, but this is ridiculous. C'mon, Ariston, we're kids." He pointed at me. "She doesn't even know what the heck is goin' on." He paused, shrugging his shoulders and holding his hands up, as if he were confused. "See my point?"

The man, Ariston apparently, growled. "First of all, you will call me Mister Howland. Second, any accomplices obviously know of your… _jokes_, and therefore know that you break numerous amounts of laws on a _daily _basis."

Percy looked taken aback. "_Mr. Howland_, I'm hurt at your accusations. I most certainly do not break 'numerous' amounts of laws on a daily basis."

Mr. Howland wrinkled his nose in disgust. "It all depends on what is numerous to a person. According to us, your actions are easily described as numerous."

The "us" part sort of freaked Katie out. Were they some sort of stalker organization?

Percy only shrugged at Mr. Howland's point of view. "Yeah." He nodded his head. "That makes sense. But still, Howland"—the man glared at the improper use of his name—"what are you gonna do 'bout me? _Us _if you wanna count her?" He jabbed a finger in Katie's direction.

All during the little dispute, she had been watching the body language of both people.

The man was easy to read: Ariston Howland was nervous, shaking like a leaf though he tried to act otherwise, but he was also determined. Katie wondered how many times Percy escaped his grasp. It was obvious, however, that he worked for the FBI or something, a thought not really comforting to her.

Percy… He was a different matter altogether. Although she had known him for years, the only way she could even know the tiniest bit of the thoughts rushing through his brain were by his little antics. Fingering his chain showed that he was nervous; wrinkling his nose at her meant that he didn't like that she knew him so well; rubbing his middle finger and thumb together signaled that he was loop-holing; rubbing his index finger and thumb together hinted that he was attempting to calm himself; and swiping his thumbs over long-faded scars implied that he was remembering, which probably wasn't good, considering many, many, _many_ of his memories weren't exactly kid friendly.

There were, to put in simple terms, _a_ _lot_ of little habits that Percy had, and Katie knew most of them on sight.

Yeah, she was an awesome best friend. There's no need to say anything.

Mr. Howland rolled his eyes ever so slightly, but he quickly stopped—probably because he didn't want Percy out of his sight; Katie hadn't even noticed the man blink, minus the few times that were extra short blinks and his futile winks. "I already told you, child," Ariston started, "that if she works with you, which is highly likely, then she is just as guilty."

Percy opened his mouth comically and placed a hand over his heart, since he hadn't bothered to put his hands above his head; of course, neither had Katie. "But, Ariston," he gasped, "that means that someone reached my level of expertise, and you told me that no one could _ever_ reach the number of crimes I committed." He lips twisted into an evil smirk. "_Ever_," he whispered.

Percy seriously loved messing with people's heads way too much.

Mr. Howland gritted his teeth, but before he could make a snappy comeback, his back-up arrived. And he said immediately. Please, it took these guys, like, five minutes to show up, and she could see a big black van parked right in front of her drive-way.

Idiots.

Men came jogging up her drive-way, in perfect formation, wearing bulky bullet proof vests and carrying big guns that she was sure would crush her.

Percy was mumbling under his breath, "Kay, twenty guys with fifty caliber sniper rifles and one guy with a pulse rifle, and those are only the guns that are visible against us. We have several semi-automatic guns and one M-4 carbine and SWAT mini K. I don't like the odds. I don't like the odds." He was fingering his chain. It was only then that Katie realized that he did not have his gray beanie on, because, if he was really stressed, he would probably reach under that hat and swipe his hand though his hair before readjusting his beanie, but he wasn't wearing it so.

Mr. Howland waved his hand at his overly large group of back-up. "Stay," he ordered. "And get out of the visual range of the front door. I want to make this quick, and two dozen men dressed like they're heading to war will not make matters short, simple, and sweet."

Ah, the Triple S Rule. She had this strange affinity with it, but Ariston about ruined it by saying what he was doing was _sweet_. Holding a gun up to two kids' heads is, under no circumstance, _sweet_.

She stayed silent, however, as the man purposefully stepped up to the front door and gave three loud, hard knocks—_knock_, _knock_, _knock_. Then he stood back, hands clasped in front of him, as he waited.

One Mississippi.

Two Mississippi.

Three Mississippi.

Four Mississippi.

Five Mississippi.

Six Mississippi.

Seven—

The door swung open, revealing her father in all his glory. "Yes?" he asked, eyes widening as he noticed Katie and Percy.

Mr. Howland cleared his throat. "I would like to take these two in for questioning, if that is alright."

Ms. Jackson came up behind Mr. Gardner; she eyed Mr. Howland carefully, sizing him up. Finally, she asked the ultimate question: "Why?"

Ariston smirked slightly, such a small movement that only a trained eye would ever have the chance of seeing, and gave a visibly tight smile. "Well, this young child—your son, I imagine—has just witnessed a crime by one of the, if not _the_, worst criminal of the world at the present moment. I cannot explain it all, since it is all highly top secret, but I hope and pray that you allow me to question him so that we can catch this villain."

Well, someone deserves an Oscar.

The guy even managed to pull the whole I'm-truly-sorry-for-this-inconvenience look, with his clearly false smile and shining eyes.

Something's just _wrong_ about that.

But, what was even worse was that Percy said _nothing_.

_Nothing_.

Not even a single grumble of protests passed his lips.

Ms. Jackson's eyes scanned over her son, bright and wary, but eventually she nodded.

Katie's dad nodded toward her. "And my daughter?" he questioned.

"If possible, we hope we can bring her in for questioning as well, but, because we are all parents here, I understand if you do not allow it." That sly little weasel, trying to sweet talk her daddy!

Her father grimaced, but he nodded, too, and then, after both parents of the supposed "witnesses" said farewells, the door clicked shut.

She stared at the door for a bit, trying to pry it open with her mind and will, but it didn't. It stayed closed. Sighing in defeat, she turned to face the triumphant face of Ariston Howland.

There was a prick in her arm, and then the world began to fade, becoming darker as the black filled her eyes.

_What a way to die_, she thought bitterly as the world became only one single ray on sunlight, _staring at the face of a crazed sadistic man. _

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Okay, so Katie didn't die like she thought she did.**

It somehow started to be a common mistake for her, with all the lethal stuff that Percy, her best friend, did _every single dang day_. At first, the confusion of thinking she was dead had worried her to no end, but soon she realized that it wasn't as bad as she pictured it to be; it was still awful, but not some horrifying thing that couldn't be helped.

These speculations were swirling around her head as slowly raised her head and glanced around the room.

Oh boy.

It looked like some sort of torture chamber, to her at least, and her nerves were set on edge at the mere notion that it _was_ a torture chamber.

Ignoring her racing heartbeat, she inspected the room, mainly focusing on the drooling boy beside her. She reached her leg out and nudged his kneecap. "Percy. Hey, Percy. Heeeelllloooo…? Is there anybody alive in that body? Wake up!" she whisper shouted at him.

He moaned and tried to stretch out his legs, but they were tied to the front legs of the metal chair he was in. Groaning his protests, he lifted his head from the back of his chair and rolled his shoulders. "This," he complained, "is not cool. Seriously, these people won't even allow me the amazingness of _stretching_. No stretching after a long car ride? That's cruel and unusual punishment."

She nodded while yawning, though her legs were completely free and not nearly as stiff as Percy's. "I don't think it goes under the category of 'cruel and unusual punishments' though."

He cocked his head to his side. "Yeah, people say that, 'til they get a feelin' of it, and then, let me tell you, this"—he raised one leg for a moment—"will be under that category, 'cause it is that uncomfortable."

Rolling her eyes, she brought her chair closer to his. "Okay, whatever you say, Oh Wise One. Just tell me what we have ta do to get outta here."

Suddenly, the door slid open with a hiss, like one of the creepy metal doors that mad scientists have in movies.

Sometimes, Katie's whole life felt like a movie.

"I don't think that you will be needing that conversation, Miss Gardner, because both of you are not leaving here. At least, one of you will not leave here for a long time. The other—the other will hopefully be gone before tomorrow."

Warning: There is a psychopath in the room.

He goes by the name of Ariston Howland.

"Oh yeah? And what makes ya think ya can keep us here? Have ya ever seen his record?" Was it strange that, of all times, she started her southern accent now? Ignoring her southern drawl, Katie jerked her shoulders up as she attempted to rip off the rope—twine, silk, what was it?—that held her arms behind the chair. "What the heck, man? I wanna get outta here."

Mr. Howland rolled his eyes, taking slow deliberate steps toward them. "I know I can keep both of you here because our organization has every possibility planned out. We can guess your every move, your every word, your every thought. Here, there is no need to expect the unexpected, because there is no unexpected."

This is when Percy popped into the conversation. "Dude, no, no, no, no, _no_. Just no. I know that isn't true, that it's a flippin' bluff."

Mr. Howland pursed lips. "It most certainly is not a bluff, and even if it was—which it isn't—what could possibly prove to you that it was so?" He raised his eye brows in question, edging Percy to give his answer.

Or to punch him. Katie would _love_ to watch Percy take a swing at the maniac.

Percy smirked a knowing smirk. "Cameras."

"Excuse me?"

"That's my answer—cameras. If y'all know our every movements, then you wouldn't need cameras, would you? Oh, also, I don't think you could guess this chick's every movement, 'cause you've neva met her before today."

"The cameras are simply for precaution, boy."

Percy's nostrils flared. "Please, do me a favor, and stop calling me 'boy.' Truthfully, after all this time, it's become redundant, and you sound idiotic."

Mr. Howland made strangling sounds in the back of his throat. "Do not insult my intelligence, child."

"I can do whatever I wanna. You don't even know my name."

"And you repeatedly avoid using my proper tittle, so I can call you 'boy' or 'child' if I feel like it." Mr. Howland crossed his arms defiantly. "I guess it's not all that bad, actually. At least I'll never have the tittle of man slaughterer."

That set Percy off. "I didn't kill _her_, and for your information, _she_ isn't even dead. So, keep your trap shut, you little—" Words that her father would've killed her for saying, or even _knowing_, came spewing out of his mouth, and although she didn't approve of cussing, she had to admit that he had a very colorful vocabulary; he was even using the words correctly.

The whole time, Ariston brows became more and more scrunched together, and his mouth dipped lower and lower at the edges. After Percy's curse word festival, he said, "That was quite a scene, but you both are still staying—until one is forced to leave, that is."

Then he turned on his heels and left without another word.

The door slid shut, and the hissing sound echoed all around Katie as his last words settled down in her brain.

_Forced to leave_.

She had a feeling the one person was her, just because she didn't have the same record as Percy had with the police. What would she be forced to do, though?

Would these crazed people send her home and expect her to say that Percy was just going to be questioned a bit longer, and then act like nothing ever happened when he never returned?

Would she have to say that Percy ran away, promising to stay away from all people from his past forever?

All the possibilities made her insides swirl and her heart beat faster.

It hurt. It hurt too much to think about.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie learned that Percy called them the SSSTNN.**

The Secret Service so Secret There's No Name.

She thought it was a little silly, truthfully. The Secret Service so Secret There's No Name? But Percy insisted that that's what she had to call them, because, even though they started chasing him when he was eight—_eight!_—he had never ever found a name, not even when he hacked into their systems.

After a while, she finally relented, but then she was bored all over again, because they were _still _tied to their chairs.

Yeah, _still_.

And the only thing that kept her mind from wandering to her itching nose was arguing. Now, she was attempting to scratch her nose with her tongue, though it wasn't working so well.

Giving up on relieving herself of her itch, Katie turned to Percy, who was strangely calm, considering she was probably about to be sent off before night. He kept on moving his shoulders, as if they were sore, and she could hear little clicking noises, like a nail snapping. _Click, click, click. _

That was when it finally hit her that he was trying to escape the whole time, unlike herself, who was complaining about boredoms and an itchy nose.

Wow. She was an idiot.

Suddenly, Percy quit moving his shoulders as before, and they slowly slumped against the back of the chair; he leaned his head back on top of the back, which probably wasn't good for his neck. Popping up again, he smiled smugly. "Finished," he said to her, nearly silent. His voice louder than before, he told her, "Now all we have to do is wait for some dimwits to come in 'ere. Then we'll attack."

Katie began nodding vigorously, and he scooted his chair over to hers, slipping a dagger into her grip. He put his mouth up to her, his warm breath tickling her ear. "When they come, cut yourself out." There was a pause, like he was letting the tension become thicker for dramatic effect. "You don't have to kill anyone, but don't hesitate to shoot. These people, they definitely won't. They will _kill_ if they feel they have to."

He leaned back, and she began trying to digest this information.

_They won't hesitate to shoot._

_They will _kill_ if they feel they have to. _

_Kill. _

She'd actually been in life or death situations before, but Percy was telling her that these people would kill. It made her wonder how he knew, but the way his mouth was frowning told her not to ask.

These people were killers.

The news was finally settling in her stomach when the door hissed open, men and women alike marching in with their guns cocked and aimed.

Katie knew, deep down, that her life would be changed dramatically this night, that she would learn a life-altering lesson, that all hell was about to break loose.

Placing the dagger on her bounds, she cut herself free in one swipe. Percy was standing on his chair, leaping off, seconds from landing, when a bullet came rushing toward him. She held the dagger that he had handed her to escape—a perfect copy of the one he had sent hurtling at Valentin Yakushin—and threw it at the man who had shot a bullet at her best friend. It stabbed the gun and pinned it to the wall.

For seconds—or years, Katie couldn't tell—there was silence. Then, all at once, the entirety of the SSSTNN held up their guns to their eyes to aim… and shot.

The sound was deafening—dozens, or even hundreds, of guns going off at once. But it didn't matter to her; she was practically already dead, with all those speeding bullets heading her way. Closing her eyes, she prayed that death would be quick for her, even if she was way too young to die.

Because, really, there was no way possible for her to survive this one.

Then someone gripped her arm, a harness somehow wrapped around her, and she was rising, rising, rising. Someone—Percy, she realized with a start—was cussing in her ear. "Stupid, Katie! You shoulda moved ya butt!" He ripped out a cover to a vent and shoved her stupor self in. He mumbled some more curses, like what he thought of the people below them.

Pulling himself into the vent too, he made a face at Katie, who was sitting on her knees, her face blank except for her wide eyes. She could tell he wanted her to man-up, but this was the first time dozens upon dozens of people were trying to kill her; Valentin tried to kill her, yes, but she didn't count that because she knew they both had a chance of survival. There was a chance; now all the odds were stacked against them, and Katie couldn't quench the fear in her. It showed too, because with every sound of a bullet hitting an object, her breath would hitch. Then more bullets were shot, and it was all she could do not to cry.

"Stop!" a voice shouted finally. "Stop! They're not here! _STOP_!" People ceased fire and the voice, Ariston Howland's voice, continued, "Do you see either of them in this room? No! You don't! Because they _escaped_! Do you hear me—_escaped_?! She heard the _snap _of something being thrown to the floor and a _crack _as a bullet flew out from the object, the gun. The bullet exploded into the vent, grazing Percy's hand that he was using to soothe her.

A pitiful cry found its way past Katie's lips as Percy jerked his hand back.

She closed her mouth as fast as she could, hoping with all her heart that no one noticed.

There was shuffling and whispering below, but she couldn't make out anything particular. Her heart rate slowed, calming at the notion that nobody had heard anything. Then, once again, she felt herself tremble in fear as another bullet shot rang though the air, nearly hitting her in the leg. This time she screamed. Real loud. Loud enough to where there was no hope at keeping hidden.

"Run!" Percy shouted, and then they went through that vent as fast as they could, Katie jumping at every bullet mere centimeters behind them. One after another, bullets made punctures in the metal as they were shot.

_Kill._

They were all trying to kill them. Both of them.

She was now on their hit list.

Eventually, when Percy and Katie had left the room where the SSSTNN people were in, barely escaping with only bullet grazes here and there, they climbed—more like fell, actually—out of the vent right in front of the entrance.

Or exit.

The way to freedom.

And it seemed so simple—just walk on out. But, unfortunately, it wasn't that simple.

The catch: The only way to enter or exit was with a key.

The key: A card and eye scan.

When Katie heard this, her heart sank down to her toes, so deep she couldn't even feel it, only hear the _thud thud _as it pumped blood.

Standing there, in front of the only way for departure, she croaked, "What?"

Her best friend shrugged, pulling down his glasses so he could look her in the eye. "Someone from the inside needs to help us out."

"But nobody from the inside will help us because they all want us _dead_!" she roared, her vision momentarily turning red.

Percy furrowed his brows, and she could tell he wanted to yell back. But he didn't; instead, he took a deep breath, rubbing his thumb and index finger together, and said, "I think not."

She blinked once… twice… "I think so."

He shook his head. "No, I always make an alliance from someone on the inside. _Always_."

"Then _who_?" she whisper screamed, as if she were afraid someone would hear their conversation—which, she was.

"Me." A boy with blond hair and gray calculating eyes walked up to them. Strangely, he was their age, around ten, nearing eleven, and had a happy aura about him that didn't seem possible with the dreary atmosphere. He stuck out his hand. "My name's Sol."

Sol's looks and even the way he held himself reminded Katie of someone…

Percy interrupted her thought process: "Sorry, Sol. I know you're one for proper introductions, but he gotta get outta here." He stuck a thumb behind him. "Your lil' buddies are comin'."

"Did you take out the cameras?" asked Sol, eyes wandering around the area.

Percy nodded.

"Great." Then, Sol whipped out a card and flashed it in front of a small red light. Barely allowing it to beep, he stepped in front of the same light and kept one eye open. The door slid open. "Get outta here. They're just around the corner. _Go! Go! Go!_"

Katie burst through that door just as the front row of the SSSTNN rounded the corner.

Running, running, running as far and fast as she could; she never looked back.

She never _ever_ forgave herself for that.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie finally stopped from her slow jog.**

Her breaths came out in short raggedy gasps as she tried to fill her lungs, but she knew her lungs wouldn't be satisfied until she stopped bending over; the stitch in her side really didn't want her to stretch, though. Recalling a trick Percy, her best friend, a taught her, she straightened her back and placed her hands on top of her head; she didn't stop walking, however, in case of cramps in her legs.

Slowly, her breaths became deeper and her heart rate stopped its light and fluttering thumping. She didn't know how long she had run—miles—but she felt pretty darn proud. Circling in place, Katie couldn't find Percy anywhere, meaning she had kept up her endurance longer. Usually the twig that called himself living could outdistance her, though she was faster when she really tried.

She circled one last time before plopping down on the ground to wait for him, thinking long and hard about the day.

A grin grew on her face as she thought about how they had ruined Ariston Howland's plan: Even though she was leaving, she had brought along Percy with her.

Then her grin slipped off her face as she remembered how the SSSTNN people had attempted to murder her—how eager they were to do so.

_Kill_.

These people… they killed, and Percy probably knew because he had witnessed a murder.

Or maybe they tried to kill him, the un-killable.

Katie gave a nervous chuckle at the thought. Where was Percy anyway? It would usually take him less than the time she used for her break for him to run two miles. Had she run more than that? She highly doubted it.

Then, a thought struck her:

_"At least, one of you will not leave here for a long time. The other—the other will hopefully be gone before tomorrow."_

_Kill._

One will be gone.

No one ever mentioned anything about leaving _alive_.

Katie felt like an idiot.

The SSSTNN was going to kill Perseus Jackson.

And if Katie didn't move quickly, they might succeed.

Suddenly, she was up on her feet and was sprinting in the general direction that she had run from.

Because she was returning to a place she might not ever escape again.

If she did ever manage to leave, it was through death.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie's feet were a blur.**

_Even in all the moments where I was about to die, I never moved this quickly_, she noted as she pumped her arms and sucked in breaths of air through her nose.

It was true, though.

Now—now Katie was more desperate and willing to do anything than ever before.

And she meant _anything_.

She'd prefer not to kill… but desperate matters call for desperate actions, and this was a desperate time.

Katie. Was. Not. Going. To. Lose. Her. Best. Friend.

She was nearing the door, and she whipped out her gun from her pants, aiming it and shooting. The system got a brand new bullet for dinner, and the wires sprayed racing electricity. Placing her shoulder to the door, she barreled her way inside, gun flying all over the place as it spit out fatal bullets. "Stand still!" a woman shouted, holding her own gun out.

Katie ignored her and randomly shot her gun, hitting the woman in the shoulder. "Move it!" Then she shoved her way past the shocked woman, who was staring at her blood covered hand.

Hopefully, the woman wouldn't die from blood loss.

Also ignoring the urge to check up on the lady, she continued running down every hall, bursting into rooms to find her best friend.

Empty.

Empty.

_Empty!_

She felt herself begin to hyperventilate more at every abandoned room, and her soaring hopes that she would find Percy were rapidly digging their way into the dirt. "Where? Where? _Where_?!" She was growing frantic. How would she find the specific room that Percy Jackson was in?

Then she saw Sol. With his blonde hair and analyzing gray eyes, he was the image of life-saver to Katie. She had him pinned against the wall in no time. "Where is my friend?" she demanded; she shook his shirt violently. "Where is he?"

Sol held up his hands. "Let go of me"—he pointed an accusing finger at Katie—"and I'll show you," he shouted, because rain had begun to pound the roof.

She nodded and released his shirt so he could show her the way. "It's through the courtyard," he told her, pointing at a door down the hallway. "C'mon."

They burst outside and sprinted through the rain, lightning streaking across the night sky. "There!" Sol turned slightly to the left, where a lone old building stood. "It's where they have the electric chair!"

"Go!" Katie shoved Sol away. "I can do this on my own. I don't want you to get in trouble."

Sol nodded. "Trouble here is fatal." And he veered off, out of her field of vision.

The lightning continued, being the only source of light she had. Thunder throbbed in her ears as it rumbled after every flashing light.

She was close, so close. She was so close she could see a window, and in that window was an obscure picture of a boy in a chair. Passed that window was her goal.

Katie reached for her gun, about to blow the window in, when it happened.

Light, blue like lightning light, filled the whole of the single building.

But it wasn't lightning.

"No!" she screeched, pulling the trigger. The window exploded, and she leapt in.

Inside, a man spotted her, and he grabbed his own gun. "Hey, kid, get out of here!"

Katie didn't even react to the man's words; her world was spinning too much. In front of her lay a limp version of Percy Jackson, scratches on his cheeks still dripping blood.

Anger raced through her veins, and Katie picked up the nearest object, a piece of glass from the shattered window, and hurled it at the man. It stabbed him in the arm, and he stumbled, knocking into a shelf that dropped junk on his till he was hidden from sight.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she untied her best friend and dragged his body out of the building. Screaming  
at him out in the rain, Katie dropped to her knees and felt for a heartbeat.

Checking his wrists and neck first, she felt her soul crinkling into a little ball of despair.

No heartbeat.

Cautiously, she laid her head onto his chest.

No heartbeat.

There was nothing.

Nothing because he was dead.

Katie stayed there at his side, feeling his body cooling like all dead people, frozen in shock for minutes from the inevitable information before her.

It wasn't possible, was it? Percy Jackson wouldn't just die, would he? Because it wasn't possible to kill the un-killable. No, it was, because he was reckless. A reckless, selfish idiot who was dead.

_Dead_.

"You idiot!" she screamed, pounding his lifeless body on the chest. "Why did you do it?! Why take the risks?! How could you be so stupid?!" Her breaths became deeper and her heart rate increased from anger—anger at Percy. Standing up, she accidently kicked a random Taser that Sol probably dropped, and it sailed through the air and touched the tip of Percy's fingers.

Now, because he was wet, the electricity soared across his whole dead body, engulfing him in blue-white sparks.

Electricity.

Katie felt like the imbecilic one. Wasn't electricity how doctors brought back the dead?

With that in mind, she held her breath and waited for the boy to suddenly wake full of life, but, again, there was nothing.

Stomping her foot then sinking back down to her knees, she shouted, "I hate you Perseus Jackson! I really, really do!"

Raising her fists again to pound the dead body, a hand reached out and held hers. "Ow, Butterfly, that hurts," a voice moaned.

Katie Gardner said nothing. Did nothing.

"Why're we outside in the rain? Not that I don't like it, but you usually don't." The voice was slurred and sleepy, as if the person it belonged to was confused. A hand shook her leg. "Huh, Butterfly?" A pause. "Are you okay? Ya look like you're in shock or somethin'." The voice was male, but of a younger person.

_Just when the news of his death finally got through, I have to process the news of him being alive,_ she thought dumbly.

_Alive_.

"You're alive!" She laughed and yanked him up.

Percy cocked his head to the side. "Yes, I'm alive."

"With a heartbeat and everything!"

He placed a hand to his heart. "With a heartbeat and everything."

Acting on instinct—and instinct only—Katie pulled Percy into a hug, placing her head onto his chest, feeling the _thump, thump_ of a beating heart. Of a living person.

She hadn't even noticed the tears of relief dropping one after another off her face. Percy, however confused he was, squeezed her tighter. "Hey," he whispered, "it's okay. We're both fine."

_Thump, thump_. That heartbeat—the one that, for a moment, didn't exist—comforted her, but the image of his dead, limp body was still etched into her brain; it was seared there, like a scar that lasts forever. "You were dead," she mumbled, chocking on a sob.

She felt his body stiffen, and more tears fell from her face, mixing with the ones from the sky. Just enough for her to get his message, he tightened his hold around her body. "Hey, hey, what do I always tell you? We'll be fine, and…?"

"You'll never ever leave me without a goodbye." Then she added, "Even if it's not a proper one."

"That's right. Now let's get outta here. Quick."

Katie sniffled, wiping the water from her eyes. "But they think you're dead."

Percy gave the smallest of smirks, but it didn't reach his eyes—no, his eyes gave a warning. "They won't think I'm dead for long."

"Because you, Perseus Jackson, are the un-killable."

**DONE! And over seven thousand words! I hope you all enjoy and forgive me for my awful updating habit that I've grown. **

**Review, favorite, follow, whatever you please.**

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX**


	9. Rain in the Sky

Okay, Pheonix the Shade goddess gave me these awesome reviews, and it really warms my heart. I just wanted to say thanks!

**Thanks to all those people who didn't give up on me by reviewing/favoring/following! Keep it going! **

**In my mind, this is more of a filler chapter that explains why Percy could go into Zeus's domain. A more action-y chapter should follow this. **

**Yay for explanations! **

**I DO NOT OWN.**

Rain in the Sky

**_Katie Gardner's POV_**

**Katie was positive, **that after Percy found out that he was achild of Poseidonand was therefore banned from the sky, he would lose his obsession.

She was an idiot for thinking so.

She was sitting in the Jackson's kitchen, Ms. Jackson baking a batch of her famous blue cookies. There was a storm outside, lightning and thunder arriving every minute or so. Rain was pounding the windows and the lights had flickered once or twice already.

But there was no Percy Jackson in sight, which was strange, because again, his mother was baking her fabulous blue cookies. Nobody could resist those cookies—especially not Percy.

Ms. Jackson didn't seem in the least bit worried, humming to herself and swaying to the music in her mind. After covering the counter in flour, she began rolling out more dough, even though she had a freshly baked batch right next to her and another in the oven. More thunder shook the sky, and Katie felt the urge to yell at the swirling clouds near the Empire State Building to _calm down! _

"Katie, honey, could you get Percy?" asked Ms. Jackson. "He's probably in his room doing _something_ with that brain of his." Ms. Jackson rolled her eyes to the roof, and Katie could tell that she was wondering why her son didn't use that brain in school.

"Okay, Ms. Jackson. I'll go get him right now." Her voice was high and pappy, so she could hide her own thoughts on the situation. Grabbing a blue cookie, she skipped down to Percy's new room, for he no longer live in that old ratty building with Smelly Gabe. Standing in front of the door, moving her pursed lips from side-to-side, Katie dwelled on her opinion on where her best friend was.

Truthfully, she had no doubt in her mind that he wasn't in his room. She thought this for mainly three reasons.

1._ Percy wasn't this quiet. _Only when he was aware of his every movement and thinking long and hard on every action was he ever silent. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but he definitely wasn't this quiet when he felt safe and secure.

2._ Percy would hear everything going on in the kitchen. _Katie could think of several moments when Percy was mentioned, and, knowing him, he would object nearly every single word spoken about him with a yell. Plus, he would hear the beeping of the oven when it went off, and then he would rush out of his room to grab a plate of cookies as soon as he could.

3._ Percy would want supplies from the around his home._ Not everything was in his room, and sometimes he would have to leave his hibernation to snatch some materials here and there. Or maybe even a toaster. Percy had taken and _used_ a toaster before.

Katie barged into the room without knocking, and was not surprised at all at the emptiness of it. Percy's laptop whirred on his messy bed, blinking every few seconds. She flicked on the light, because it wasn't even on, and made her way around the room. She tapped her fingers along the top of a canvas that had a painting of a flower on it; Katie knew it was in memory of *_her_.

She then headed over to his bed, where his laptop sat untouched; ever since Percy learned he was a demigod, he had left his electronics alone more, but he still couldn't live without them. The screen flashed again, and she realized that it wasn't the computer lighting up but the sky. Lightning cracked across the sky, filling the room with a blue hue. Katie turned to watch it out the window, but was distracted by the smallest of things.

A crack. The window was cracked open. Barely, but just enough to where someone could slip back inside.

She sighed and opened the window all the way before rushing out into the downpour. Climbing her way to the roof, where she suspected Percy was, she could not help but think how crazy someone had to be in order to willingly go outside.

_I guess Percy's insanity rubbed off_, she thought, stepping onto the puddle-filled roof. Through the water in her eyes, Katie saw a body curled up not too far in front of her along the edge of the roof. A male, she saw, wearing a gray beanie and mumbling to himself.

"Percy," she groaned, plopping down beside him, looking away from the dizzying height. He wasn't even wearing a jacket or anything! Just his worn out jeans and ratty T-shirt with broken down tennis shoes. "You're gonna catch a cold or somthin'. C'mon, let's go inside." He didn't move; didn't even acknowledge her. Katie bumped his knee. "Hey, you know you're not supposed to be talkin' to them."

That got him to finally realize someone was beside him. "You mean my shadow friends? Yeah, I know, but it's something that's the same. Something actually somewhat good from my past."

She blinked water out of her eyes, then, after failing miserably, wiped it away with her shirt. She would bother with the shadow friends later. "So what's botherin' you?" she asked, knowing fully well what was wrong, even if she didn't want to believe it.

"You know, before I went on my quest, I mentioned flying, but Chiron told me it was a bad idea. Because I would be in Zeus's domain." He had a wistful look in his eyes, and she could tell he was remembering all the good times he had in the sky. Then his eyes hardened. "Said I'd get blasted from the sky, Zeus did."

This confused Katie, because, as she thought about it, she realized that Zeus obviously never had a problem with Percy going into the sky before. So why does it matter now? Percy turned to her, as if he could read her thoughts, and said, "He didn't know I existed."

"What?" she asked.

"Zeus. The only reason he never blasted me to smithereens is because he never knew there was a child of Poseidon, and if he did, he didn't know it was me." He shrugged, tilting his head back, letting water soak through every inch of his being.

A silence spread between them—not an awkward one, because those ended years before—that allowed for deep thoughts.

She had to ask. "If you're a child of Poseidon, then why do you like the sky in the first place? Isn't it, like, a natural born instinct to hate it?" Katie spit out a spurt of water as more thunder shook the world.

_This isn't safe_, she thought. With the thunder and lightning, someone could get hurt—probably Percy with his luck and (yay!) uncle that seemed to have a grudge against him. Thank goodness (or the gods) that Demeter wasn't on Zeus's bad side, so she could still use a plane on those rare occasions where it would be more efficient than a car,

Percy answered her question: "I doubt it's a 'natural born instinct,' as you put it, but… I used to get this tingling sensation whenever I got up high. Remember that first time we flew in your Pop's plane? Really, I mainly jumped because my body told me to—told me I wasn't in the right place. That's probably also why I ended up landing in the lake, because it's water and all."

He paused, sucking in a breath of air and relishing in the feel of water. "Don't get me wrong though. I don't hate the sky. It's just… It's more like water than people think. The sky is all over the place, like water—both _have_ water—and it's something humans have always wanted to explore."

"It's dangerous," Katie put in; she gave him a look. "And you simply adore anything that's dangerous or life-threatening."

"I do not!" he argued. "Danger and trouble just follow me."

"Well ain't that the truth."

He laughed—one of those real laughs that became more and more common with each passing year. "Hey, wanna know what's dangerous?"

Wary as she was, Katie had to figure out what devious thing was going through her best friend's mind. "What's dangerous?"

Percy suddenly stood up, water rushing down his clothes. He stuck out his hand. *"Asking you to dance in the rain with me."

She grinned and laughed, jumping up to her own feet. "That is dangerous," she mocked, punching his arm. He didn't react to her punch; Percy simply took her hand and dragged her to the middle of the roof. "There's no music!" she complained.

Percy pointed at the jagged lightning. "I think Zeus'll keep a steady beat for us."

"But no slow dancing, buddy. I don't dance slowly."

"I don't dance at all!" he threw his hands up to the sky.

"You're weird!"

"You must be slow if ya just figured that out!"

They continued to stand out in the rain—laughing and shouting but not really dancing—while the rain drops fell from the sky, the cold seeping to their bones. Katie splashed into a puddle, water rising up and landing on Percy's head; this then turned into a splashing war.

_Splash! Splash! _"Ugh! I'm freezing!" Katie chattered after a while, rubbing her arms for friction. "I'm goin' inside for some cookies."

Percy leapt to her, landing in one last puddle. "Really? I could stay up here forever!"

"Well I can't." She started making her way down to Percy's window.

"Okay, okay. I'm comin' with you," said Percy as he followed her.

Katie popped her head into his room, water dripping from her clothes onto the floor, and Percy flung himself in, landing on the floor. "Klutz," she snorted.

"No, the floor just hates me. So does gravity," he countered.

"You of all people should know that you just gave two inanimate things human qualities." She rolled her eyes as she started ringing out her hair. "I hope your mom won't mind all this water… Hey! Can you use your epic Son of the Sea God powers on us?"

"Maybe. And it's called personification, Katie." Percy lowered his eyelids and focused on the water on her. Holding out his hand, she saw the look on his face when he felt that tugging sensation in his gut, and then the water floated off of Katie. "Can you open the door so I can drop this into the bathtub?"

She nodded and opened first his door then the bathroom door. He released the fist he was holding and dumped the water into the tub; he silently cheered after his success. "What about yourself, Oh Wise One?" Katie asked, eyeing his soaked clothes. He would always be an oblivious smart person to her. (Not genius; she didn't want his ego to explode.)

Percy stopped cheering. "Hmmm…" The water fell off him in an instant. "Remember, I can keep myself dry." He gave a lop-sided grin as he held up his index finger.

"How can I forget when you remind me of your abilities every single day?" she sighed, snatching a small towel and whipping her friend with it.

"Ow! That hurt!" She wacked him again. "No, seriously! Ow! Cut it out!" He pulled out a towel as well, and then they began battling, smacking each other in the legs with their fake whips.

Ms. Jackson decided at that moment to walk into the bathroom. "What are you two _doing_?" she asked, obviously exasperated.

Katie hit Percy one last time. "We _were_ battling till the end with our mini weapons." She held out her hand that was holding the towel. "_En garde!_"

"_Okay_… Then where were you before? Because I couldn't find either of you." Ms. Jackson crossed her arms, raising her eye brows.

"Outside." Leave it to Percy to be blunt.

"_Outside?_ But you aren't even wet!" It was difficult to tell if she was more worried about the _outside_ part or the _not wet_ part.

"And we are alive!" Percy shouted, holding his arms out to the side.

"Then where did all the water go to?" Ms. Jackson asked, as if she knew all the water was ruining her carpets at the very second. An unreadable expression overcame his face, and he made a movement with his hand; the sink turned on. "_Right. _Forgot about that." She paused. "I'm going to finish the cookies," she said, rushing off.

Katie turned to Percy. "I think she'd rather have the rain in the sky."

Percy chuckled, swinging an arm around her shoulder. "We _are_ in the sky, Butterfly."

They began making their way to the kitchen for fresh blue chocolate chip cookies.

"Now, about those cookies…"

"I'm not giving you any of mine."

"Styx!"

"No cussing!"

**Oh, that was weird. **

*******_She_**** has been mentioned before, but it's more in my story "Apples". I say/write ****_she_**** because the name is sort of forbidden to people because it brings bad memories. ****_She_**** was/is obsessed with flowers and painting, which is why Percy painted a flower. **

***Some people wanted some Percy/Katie romance, so this is it! And it's about all you get, unless I make a separate story!**

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX **


	10. Dead for Good

**_So_**** sorry for the long wait! And, to make up for the over month long time of no updates, this chapter is over 8,600 words. Enjoy! **

**I DO NOT OWN.**

Dead for Good

**_Katie Gardner's POV_**

**Katie bolted upright in her bed.**

Her breath came in ragged breaths, and her heart was racing around in her chest, like it was trying to burst out of her in a magnificent explosion of fireworks—to bad these fireworks were right inside her, making them deadly. Gripping her sheets, she took in a deep—or, really, the deepest she could manage—cool breath of air, then another, and another. _In and out, in and out. _After her heart stopped its erratic tap dance and her lungs began functioning correctly, Katie peeked over shoulder at her flower alarm clock. The glowing red numbers read: 12:01. In the morning.

Oh, joy.

Sighing, she slid her feet down the side of her bed and began padding out of her bedroom. This had been happening for the past week; every night, a nightmare woke her in the dead of night, and every night, she could never remember her dream. She guessed it was about Percy dying, since she had watched him die before her a week ago. Dragging her feet along the floor, she felt her way to the staircase. A creak sounded from behind her, and Katie froze, twirling silently on her feet.

There, in front of her, was Percy _freaking_ Jackson himself. He froze, finger paused in front of his new glasses that he was in the process of pushing up. He waved meekly. "Hey, Katie. What—what are you doing up at this hour?"

She huffed and crossed her arms. "Like you should be the one asking." Rolling her eyes, she answered, "I'm parched, so I was getting some water. Now, what are _you_ doing up?"

If possible, Percy got even stiffer than before; the only part of his body that moved were his middle finger and thumb slowly rubbing together. "I'm going out."

Katie stomped her foot. "Thanks for being blunt, Perseus, but I was looking for a more specific answer." She glared at her best friend, willing for the information to come out of his mouth.

He scrunched up his nose. "Kate," he sighed exasperatedly, "I know that you want to know where I'm going, but… you don't need to. This doesn't involve you, at all."

"You're in my house right now, so you're gonna tell me where you're goin'. Right now." Katie pointed threateningly at Percy, though her threat was useless; Percy practically lived at the Gardner residence—he even had his own room!

He shook his head. "No."

"Why not?" she pouted, knowing full well that bargaining was a hopeless tactic.

He grimaced, slinging a back pack over his shoulder. "Katie—it's just—"

"You always tell me!" Her eyes went wide.

"But this is diff—"

"_Please!_"

"Fine!"

"Yay!" Katie cheered, throwing her arms around Percy in a hug. He went rigid for a moment, then shook his head, hugging back with one arm.

"Okay, Gardner"—he lightly shoved her away—"I'm going to find the SSSTNN."

"What?!" she screeched, feeling her face pale. "Why would you try to _find_ the SSSTNN?! Stay away! Are you _sane_?!"

"Look," Percy started, holding his hands up, "after—after last time I ran into them, I began thinking. I… Uh, this is gonna sound cheesy. I have people who care about whether or not I get arrested. I mean, my mom cares and stuff, but she doesn't know! Not, not like you…" He wrung his fingers together. "I guess what I mean to say, is that I can't do the stuff I used to, because it's beginning to affect other people. There. I said it."

Katie stared at him for a while. Then she poked him in the stomach. "You're going soft."

"I am not!" he protested incredulously.

"Yes, you are. But…"

"But what?" he asked, still annoyed at the 'going soft' thing. Katie could sort of understand; he had spent years as an emotionless statue, and someone saying that he was going soft wasn't going to help his reputation.

"But, I still don't get it. Why find the SSSTNN? Why even try to make contact with them?"

"Katie," he said slowly, "you know they want me dead." She nodded, remembering the sound of ricocheting bullets. "Well, if I were dead, they would stop looking for me. They would leave everyone alone."

Her eyes widened in fear. "You're going to commit suicide!"

"No! No, no, no. I'm going to fake my death."

"Fake… your death." Katie let that settle in. "Fake your death. You came up with this just today, didn't you?" Another beat of silence. "How?"

He sucked in a nervous breath of air. "Yes, I did. And, as to how, well, first, I, uh, have to go to them."

The way he said it made Katie grow nervous herself. "Where?"

"Paris, France."

"Well"—she clapped her hands together—"I guess I should go pack my stuff."

Percy grabbed her elbow as she was heading to her room. "I don't want you to go."

She laughed. "Good one, Percy. No, seriously, let me get my stuff."

"I. Don't. Want. You. To. Go. You need to stay home."

"Excuse me?" She stared at her best friend, his sea green eyes magnified a bit by his dorky glasses.

"You remember last time! Katie, I don't want you to have to face that again." Percy sounded almost pleading to her, but that couldn't be right; Percy never begged.

"It wasn't that bad," she tried.

"You've been having nightmares ever since! You've been scarred for life!" He grew quieter with his tone, glancing furtively at Mr. Gardner's closed bedroom door. "Please, Katie. Please, just stay home, where it's safe. _Please_."

Katie pursed her lips, slowly ripping her elbow from Percy's grasp; it was hard to ignore his begging, because he _was_ begging, but she was going. She always went. There was no way that was about to change. "No, I'm going. You don't ever really drag me into anything—I usually follow you, actually—so stop blaming yourself." She gave him a soft smile. "Besides, it's every gal's dream to go to Paris."

He sighed, his lips going into a thin line. "Fine, go get your things. The plane leaves at one."

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie knew she was living every gal's dream.**

Though she was exhausted and knew she'd never want to get on another plane for a long time, walking the streets of Paris was exhilarating. Percy and Katie had gotten off the plane a little less than an hour ago, and then they walked around a bit, making it around five in the evening; they were coming up on the Eiffel Tower. This was the only tourist site that Percy was allowing, probably because it was involved with his mysterious little devil of a plan.

Yanking on his wrist, she made her way through the crowd, aweing at the towering structure before her. She was firing question after question at Percy, wanting to gain as much information as she could about the City of Love. "Where are we?"

He yanked her back to him, rolling his eyes. "The Eiffel Tower is located on the Champ de Mars, if I'm correct."

"Whoa. It's tall. How tall is it?"

He hesitated. "Nine hundred something feet..." He snapped his fingers. "Nine-hundred-eighty-four feet!"

"Ohhhh…. What do the French call it?" Katie was beginning to think the dozen cookies she had eaten weren't good for her; they definitely sparked her mild ADHD.

"You mean, what is it called in French? Well, I don't speak French, but the Eiffel Tower is called _La Tour Eiffel _in French. I think."

"When was it built?" She couldn't help it! She was so curious!

"The 1880s. Now, c'mon, we have to go to the top."

"1880 what? And, I don't know if we _can_. Do you see all these people?" Her words were beginning to run together now.

"1887 through 1889. And, yes, we can. There are nine lifts we can use to go to the top."

"Really, nine? That's so cool and—"

"Katie, do me a favor, will ya?" Percy was rubbing at his right temple, his left hand wrapped around Katie's wrist.

"Yes?" she asked. What was he going to ask? Please let it not be to go ahead and look for any SSSTNN people. Please let it not be to go ahead and look for any SSSTNN people…

"Shut up, before I teach you a wide range of vocabulary words. I really need to concentrate."

"Oh, okay."

With that, she shut her trap and followed him through a small crowd. He pulled her along to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, where he inspected it, plopping his bulky puke green back pack on the grass. "Katie, could you pull out two little circular thingies from my back pack?" he asked, but it was really an order.

She nodded and went searching his bag, finding very many… _peculiar_ things, but she ignored it. After a few non-profitable minutes and looking for any passerby, she dumped all of its contents onto the green grass. Right on top were two silver circular things with handles; the bottom parts had a blue glow emitting from them. "Here," she called to Percy, standing and bringing forth the two 'circular thingies' that were stuck together.

"Thank you," he mumbled, still staring at the _La Tour Eiffel _like he was mesmerized by its beauty or something weird like that. Katie didn't know or care at the moment what was going through his fat brain; it was not like he was about to spurt what his plan was.

Percy went to one of the legs of the tower. Pulling apart the two 'circular thingies', he stuck one on the leg. _CLANG!_ Katie winced and automatically ducked; she saw from the corner of her eye Percy do the same. He angrily whispered some things that rhymed with 'split' and 'fire truck'. "Stupid!" he scolded himself quietly. "People could hear!" He was hitting himself on the head now. "Think, Percy. _Think!_"

"Percy," she whispered urgently, "we gotta go. People are comin'."

He turned to her. "Pack the stuff," he ordered. "I'll get this magnet offa this thing."

Katie rushed down to where she dumped all of Percy's knickknacks, landing on her knees. "C'mon, c'mon, fit!" She jammed the last object, a small, folded lime-green board of sorts, and tried to zip up the back pack.

There were sirens now, rapidly growing louder.

"I don't have time for this!" She clutched the top of it, effectively blocking anything from falling, and sprinted over to Percy, whose feet were pressed up against the leg of the structure as he pulled as hard as he could on the small magnet. Dang! That thing had power! "Stop messing around, Percy!" she shouted over the wailing sirens.

"I'm—not—messing—around," he gritted out.

"Well, then hurry up!"

"I am!" he snapped.

"Why isn't it coming off, then?!"

_Clang! _The magnet separated from the Eiffel Tower, and he flew back into a back-flip. He landed wobbly on his feet and then back on his butt. Standing with a sort of grace no one should be able to manage after landing on their behind, Percy tugged his back pack from Katie's hand and wedged the two magnets into it. "To the trees," he told her, grabbing for her hand—though she knew he meant her wrist—and dragging her along.

They had only stepped but a few times, when a voice called out, "_Vous deux, là-bas. Stop._"

"Stay very, very calm," he told her from between his teeth. He turned, motioning for Katie to do the same, and she watched with interest at the spectrum she was about to witness. "I'm sorry, sir," Percy said, inching closer to the officer. "I don't understand."

"Oh. You speak English?" An officer—from the Paris _Police Nationale_, she knew—stepped forward. He cocked his head to the side. "You two are children," he stated bluntly, obviously surprised.

"Ah, yes… _un policier_, we both speak English. We both come from New York." Percy propped up his glasses, his eyes darting at the tourist surrounding the Eiffel Tower.

"And you are both children from America." _Jeez, _Katie thought. _This guy just won't let it go that we're kids. _

"Yes." She could tell the man was beginning to irritate Percy now. "You said that before."

"And, since you are children, where are your parents?"

"We sort of got distracted, so we don't know where our guardians are…" He trailed off quietly, like he was searching, but Katie knew he already had his targets ready. "There!" he exclaimed, pointing at a crowd of American tourists. "Right in the middle! We'll be fine, officer. Thanks for all the help!"

She waved to the _un policier _as she speed walked to the crowd, like her parents were in there, somewhere. "Thanks for the help, sir!" she shouted. Then she plunged with Percy into the midst of all the people.

After about five long, dragging minutes—for ADHDs, at least—Percy peaked behind the crowd for the _Police Nationale_ worker. "Gone," he told her; then he grabbed her wrist, like usual, and lead her to the row of trees besides the Eiffel Tower. Once hidden by the green and dark, he began saying his plans aloud for her: "We'll return later, when it's dark. The SSSTNN will be there, waiting for me."

Katie bit her lip, trying to keep in the always unanswered question. "Oh, and Katie," Percy said, a small smirk on his lips, "I'll tell you how. You _are_ an important part of my plan."

She could not help the small spark of joy that jolted through her. Maybe—_maybe_—he'll change.

Maybe he already is.

Maybe things will be different.

But those are only maybe's.

And, often, she told herself, maybe's are no's.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie sat on the hotel's fluffy bed.**

She didn't know how Percy had scored the nice suite they were in—honestly, she didn't know how he did a lot of things, like manage to get first class seats on the airplane they had flown in—but she guessed it had something to do with his uncanny ability to know what people want and then convince them that he can get it. And hacking. And that weird raise-the-left-eye-brow thing. Yeah, those probably helped, too.

Ignoring the urge to bombard her best friend with question after question, she pulled her knees up to her chest and thought.

The plan was genius, in its own way, like usual; but, of course, it had its faults.

Truth be told, it was sort of hard for her to see the _faking death _part. The plan was suicidal. At the same time though, she could see how it could work.

That is, if it did not depend on the small contraptions that a child—even if that child was Percy Jackson—created. And not to mention that they had to deceive a group of highly trained, deadly geniuses!

Katie had to admit that she doubted Percy. No way was any of it possible. No way.

But, this was Perseus Jackson, and, however hard it was to admit, Perseus Jackson always kept things to himself; he never told everything. Ever.

There were secrets not to be revealed until the last second.

But secrets aren't secrets unless asked about. If nothing is asked, those hidden things are obviously not important enough to be secrets.

At least, that is what Percy would say, and Katie agreed.

It was easier to say her best friend kept personal things to himself—not secrets.

So, that's why, when she went up to his side of the room, about to ask what he wasn't telling her, she didn't say anything at all. Instead, she simply grabbed one of his pieces of technology, a tiny gaming device, and skipped right on back to her bed. Plopping atop it, she had turned on the game and began playing furiously, not even glancing at the boy across the room.

It also might have been Percy's doing. With that left eyebrow of his raised, a look of seriousness and knowing plastered on his face, Katie was positive a part of her brain, in the very back, had told her to turn back without her consent.

_I guess Perseus Jackson will always be a mystery._

_A mystery with no secrets._

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie craned her neck to a point to where it was painful.**

She couldn't help it though; she just had to see if she could spot the top of the Eiffel Tower from where she was. Luckily, the plan wasn't about to unfold for another hour (because this was just a test), at eight o'clock, and she could admire one of the greatest architectural works ever built. Admiring also meant learning, however, and she was pretty sure her curiosity was killing Percy, even if he loved her curiosity, because it made her so-very-animated.

"How tall is it again?"

"Do you want it in feet or meters? Inches, maybe?" He clutched her wrist tighter as they weaved through the hustle and bustle of people.

"Feet. Americans use feet, and I'm from America, so I use feet." She sounded uptight, like a queen, but a queen suited her well, she thought. A princess was even better.

"I told you that already, earlier." He nudged her in the direction of one of the lifts.

"Well, I forgot."

"Well," he mocked, "remember."

She racked her brain for the number. "Three hundred…?"

"That's meters," he corrected lightly.

Katie pursed her lips, bringing them both to a standstill. "Nine hundred something."

"Nine hundred-something is close." Percy tugged at her stiff arm. "Now, c'mon, we have to go. There's only so much time we have to test. We need to prefect it as much as we can, or, you, know, we can both _die_."

She waved him away. "Dying can wait. I really need to remember this. Hmmm…"

"You really have no idea what you just said, do you?"

"What did I say? Is it nine hundred ninety feet?" She had to remember this. She _had_ to.

"No, it's not nine hundred ninety feet," he huffed, trying—but epically failing because he was not really attempting—to pull her from her spot.

"Nine hundred… nine hundred… nine hundred eight…?"

"Stop trying so hard and then it'll come to you! Ya know, I think actually being on the Eiffel Tower will help you. Let's go!" He took a step forward, but Katie yanked him right back next to her.

"Is it nine hundred eighty?" she demanded.

"No! It's nine-hundred-eighty-four feet!" he shouted, loud enough to where surrounding people turned to see what all the commotion was about.

Katie stomped her foot childishly. "I could have figured it out!"

"Well, too bad! We're going. Now."

"No."

Percy shook his head at her defiance. "Fine, I'm going." He released his grip on her wrist and dove through a crowd, leaving her behind.

Katie about had a panic attack the second her left her sight. "Percy! _Percy!_" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She pounded her head as she made for the tower. "He has all the supplies. You don't know where the hotel is. And—oh, I feel stupid and—_AH!_" She shrieked in the middle of her rant when two hands tickled her ribs.

"I told you we were leaving, but you didn't listen." Percy slung an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward a lift. "This way, Katie."

"I know," she defended herself.

"Know, not _knew_." They followed a dozen tourists, their cameras flashing, into the lift. "Besides"—he leaned closer to her ear—"you were heading in the wrong directions."

"I hate you."

"Love you, too." He smirked victoriously, lifting his arm from around her.

Katie did not say anything, choosing to take her anger out on the poor operator. She glared at the man, like he had kicked her puppy or eaten her grandmother.

The operator, after that day, forever had a fear of young girls with pig-tails and grass green eyes.

At the top of the Eiffel Tower, when everyone had safely exited the lift, Percy had brought Katie to the edge of the structure. Holding his glasses up on his nose, he pointed with his other hand down below to the bright green grass. "They think I'm not all that smart, so of course, when I escape, I'll let them think that I did something stupid." She nodded, thinking back on Mr. Howland; it was obvious that he underestimated them, and he would surely do the same thing again. They were only children. Percy continued, "So, I'll jump. Of course, I know should simply jumping will kill anyone, but they don't know that I've sky dived into water and trees before and survived."

"It isn't sky diving if there aren't any parachutes," she mumbled under her breath.

"Anyway," he said, ignoring her comment, "what I really want to do first is drop something from this high up." He reached into his back pocket, revealing a shiny new quarter. "You wanna drop it?"

"What? No. Wait, why?"

He shrugged. "I can't see all the way to the bottom as well as you can. Just make sure there aren't any people and you should be good."

"Should? I hate the word should."

"So do I. Now drop it."

Katie sneaked a glance past the railing, double checking that there were no people of any sort directly below them, before dropping the quarter. She watched as it plummeted to the ground, flashing from the fading sunlight. Soon, it grew so tiny she could no longer see it. "Kay, I dropped it. What now?"

Percy shrugged again, pursing his lips. "I already checked the magnets, so I have to check your life-saver." He grinned, like what he said was hilarious. She thought it was awful that she had to test something so important, because it meant that anything and everything could go wrong.

"Do I have to jump?" she asked, gulping.

"No, I'm dropping the model."

She let out a breath of relieved air. "Good. That's good, right?"

"Do you _want_ to jump?"

"No, no, it's good." She held up her hands and took a large step back. "Go ahead. Do your testing. I'll just"—she pointed over her shoulder—"be over here, ya know, looking over the city and stuff."

Percy shook his head. "Make sure no one comes near."

"Okay, I'll be on the lookout. As long as there's no jumping. Yep, yep, yep!" She turned around and jostled into some a couple. "Sorry!" She shuffled away from them and heard her best friend talk to himself/shadow friends.

Percy chuckled. "Can jump out of a plane but not off the Eiffel Tower. Makes sense," he muttered sarcastically. "I don't know what to make of that, Ryan. I just really don't get it."

Ignore the shadow friends. She thought she ought to make that her new motto.

IGNORE THE SHADOW FRIENDS. YOU WILL WEIRD THEM OUT.

That should do it.

She shuffled away to keep watch for something only Percy knew about. _Like he could be surprised_, she thought. _Like he could be surprised, with those invisible shadow friends of his. _

When Katie and Percy were back on the ground, away from the crowds, they went over to the spot below the railing where she dropped the quarter. In the grass, there was a quarter-sized hole that sliced through the dirt. She dug her fingers around it and caught sight of the coin, covered in dirt. "Well, Percy," she said slowly, "at least now you know that falling from here is deadly."

She looked up at him. Biting his lip, he shrugged. "I already knew that. All I wanted was to have a little insight on how the real thing might go."

"Here's your insight, buddy, and it looks real bad."

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie was back sitting on her fluffy hotel bed.**

It was 7:42, eighteen minutes until the plan started to unfold, and the duo was finishing their last morsels of room service. Katie licked some chocolate off her fingers. "This is so _good_," she moaned, emphasizing the good part.

Percy nodded, taking another chunk out of his apple. "Good works, but I was thinking something more along the lines of…"

"…delicious," she finished for him.

"Delicious. Yeah, this is definitely delicious." _Crunch. _Percy gave his apple an odd look, as if it was not supposed to disappear like that, and then tossed it on his plate. "Delicious as it is, we still have to go."

"No!" she complained. "Just one more cookie."

"No more cookies." He sighed exasperatedly. "Sometimes, I wonder who's more mature."

"I am totally mature!"

"Really? Because you sure aren't acting mature." He stared at her innocently, with his left eye brow raised, like he hadn't used some sort of psychology on her. Reverse psychology, she thought. He must have used reverse psychology or something of that sort. (What? She _was_ only ten.)

She glared at him. "Fine, I'm goin'."

They left the hotel room, checking out, with Percy's ugly puke-green back pack slung over his left shoulder. He led the way, as usual, to the _La Tour Eiffel_. "We have to rush," he was saying as he ducked underneath a man's outstretched arm. Katie face ended up in the crook of the man's elbow.

"Sorry," she mumbled into his elbow, the sound muffled; her face was burning.

The man's—a young man, maybe early twenties—face was also beet-red, but his wasn't in embarrassment. _"Que faites-vous, vous gamin stupide!"_

"Uhhh… _Bonjour_… ?" She waved timidly, glancing at the young French girl—who, she thought, was way too skinny to be considered healthy—leaning against the red brick wall, her face flushed as well.

_Oh, crap_.

Katie dashed away as quickly as she could, arms outstretched to grasp Percy's shirt. "Why you—you little—" she ground out under her breath. "_Why didn't you help me?_"

He was chuckling under his breath, biting his lip, though highly ineffective. "I know, we have to go, but that was pretty funny, you have to admit."

"No, it wasn't," she snapped. "C'mon. We have to go." She pulled on his arm, and he yelped.

"You almost yanked my arm outta socket!" He grasped her wrist to rip off her iron grip.

"_Almost_ doesn't count." She yanked again, harder, this time.

"But it hurts," he whined.

Katie shook her head. What was he doing? Break a bone, don't even drone. Pull on an arm, scream like an alarm. Yeah, that makes sense. "It's not like you'll feel much pain later, Percy," she scolded as they turned the last curve to the Eiffel Tower. "You'll probably never pull your arm outta socket."

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_.

Don't you know the saying?

Knock on wood three times, or you will jinx it.

Well…

_Knock_.

_Knock_….

You've now been jinxed.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie stared at the Eiffel Tower, again.**

How many times had she looked at it this past day? Three times? More? Truthfully, she wanted to see the other tourist spots; all day it was only the Eiffel Tower. _La Tour Eiffel_ this, _La Tour_ _Eiffel_ that. She was tired of it; besides, there was a high probability of her dying tonight at the very building. Oh, and Percy. Percy could die, too.

Why was it always them who could die? Why not two other ten year-olds?

_Oh, yeah, because of Percy, _she thought sourly.

Sighing, Katie—now following Percy—stepped into the lift. It was empty, minus the sleeping elevator operator. _That_ she couldn't understand. Was Paris not the City of Lights? Who would not want to see the City of Lights in action? The doors slid open, and the duo silently slipped out onto the remote tower.

It was virtually empty, but she knew it wasn't. Not for long, at least.

Percy handed Katie a pair of binoculars and stuck an earpiece in her ear. "Okay," he instructed, "listen through this"—he tapped the tiny, almost invisible earpiece—"so you can get the gist of what's goin' on. The binoculars, use those to see everything. You'll use 'em to watch for the signal. Now, this"—he dug through his ugly backpack, pulling out the lime-green board—"you'll use to slowly go down the tower. It has powerful magnets that will allow you to hover vertically next to the metal. Go too far, and you might get to meet that quarter you dropped earlier." He paused after his warning, gaining full eye contact from Katie. "And, the most important parts for the plan, this"—he handed her a grass green blow-up mattress—"this"—placed in her arms a deflated, tan human-like decoy—"and this"—next came a large bag of thick, sloshy red liquid.

"You have everything else, right? The rope, trigger—?" She nodded cutting him off, however burdened with the weight of the three precious items she was. He rolled his shoulders, and she could see the anxiety rolling off him in waves. "The back-up parachute, just in case?" he asked, trying to say it off-handedly, so she wouldn't get worried as well.

Katie smiled. "Yeah, I got 'em all, Softie. Just let me go, before _they_ get here." She heard her voice harden, and she was quite surprised. Then she couldn't help the satisfaction she felt from imagining _their_ surprised faces when their—okay, okay, _Percy's_—plan succeeded. But, she remembered, they would be _happy_, because her best friend would finally be dead.

Dead for good.

_Yay_. (As much sarcasm as possible included; and a boring, monotone voice.)

She gingerly stepped over to the edge, where a small fence was to keep people from doing stupid things—like, say for example, jumping over so you can fall to your doom. "I'll be fine, right?" she asked suspiciously as she swung her left leg over. "I mean, these things you made—they're safe?"

Percy chuckled as he stepped over to her, helping Katie over. "What? You think I made these by myself?"

"Well, yeah…" She trailed off as she saw his face of bewilderment and amusement.

"No. No, no, no, no." He waved his hands above his head. "Katie, these inventions, they're safe. Trust me."

"But you made them all by yourself, and you're a kid—"

"Number one: I can't believe that you're questioning my brain." He pointed to his temple, gloating about his big, fat brain. "Number two: I had _help_, Butterfly." He raised his left eyebrow, and a nagging feeling began squirming in the back of her mind.

"And by help, you mean…?"

He shrugged and crossed his arms across his chest. "Guess." Lifting his wrist, he looked at it like he had a watch on. "And do it soon, because they'll be comin' up within the next minute or so."

"Kids," Katie guessed. "You're help—they were kids. Other kids."

"Correction: genius kids." He said it in a posh tone with his pointer finger held toward the sky. Then he stared at her with slanted eyes. "Get a move on. I can hear the lift comin' up. _Now_."

"I'll see you later then." Even she knew she was procrastinating by now, but she really did _not _want to leave—not yet. Not ever.

He patted her back. "No, don't say it like a good-bye. You'll be fine. We'll be fine," he added. There was the sound of the ropes pulling up the lift and a small ding. He made a shooing motion with his hand. "Are ya gonna go yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." There was silence between them—awkward with the seemingly obvious doom impending upon them.

But Percy's plans worked. Some way or another, they always work.

Always.

Right?

Katie pondered the probability of this plan succeeding on the way down the side of the Eiffel Tower—because she could, with Percy constantly pounding her with math and all that other junk when he got in the geeky mood—on the small lime-green board. She lay on her stomach, the three special items tied to the bottom of the board; her arms snaked around the bottom and twisted together. Slowly, slowly, slowly, she inched her way—head facing the ground, feet facing the sky—to the spot where she had to hang the decoy.

Sliding down one leg of the structure, then going underneath, she began to hang upside-down. She wrapped her legs around the board as best she could behind the three important items tied down underneath the lime-green board as well. Below, she released her grip with her hands and began tying a rope around the neck of the decoy. Once the decoy was hung up on the Eiffel Tower, hidden from those above, she opened a little hole and began dumping in the blood-red sloshy liquid.

The decoy hung in front of Katie, swinging back and forth, back and forth. She stared at it, taking in the little details like the silver chain and gray beanie and rectangular, geeky glasses.

Static filled her ear for a moment, and then it cleared.

Voices:

"So, boy—if I may ask—what are you doing here?" Ariston Howland, first class maniac.

"You may not ask, but it's not like I have any say in the matter, since you already did ask." Percy Jackson, sarcasm king.

Katie wrapped one arm around the board and began using the other to push her way to the leg of the _La Tour Eiffel_ again. Once there, she started heading down to the ground. The whole time, she listened in on the conversation going on above her.

"Just tell me why you are here in the first place!" Ariston growled.

"Why don't you make me?" mocked Percy.

"Fine."

There was a sound like shoes clicking on the floor, and then Percy spoke up: "Ah, ah, ah, Ariston. I wouldn't do that if I were you. I mean, if I fall, then you won't ever get to know why I'm here. Do you really want to do that?"

A snap echoed through Katie's ear. "Circle him. I don't need to lose again," Howland barked. "Do not blink! Do you not understand?! If you blink, he escapes! Stop blinking!"

"Hey, Ariston, don't worry. I'm not trying to escape. Or even rub it in your face that I can, for that matter." Katie could feel the smirk that was stretched across Percy's face.

"How many times do I have to tell you, my name to you is Mr. Howland! _Mr_._ Howland_!"

"Are you getting annoyed, _Howland_? I thought that you had to keep cool for the show."

Katie bit her bottom lip as she came close enough to the ground to jump. Slipping her other arm around the board—futuristic hovering board, she liked to think—she dangled her feet a foot above the soft grass. Falling, she brought the lime-green-futuristic-hovering board with her and raced to the spot below Percy, who was standing on the ledge, balancing precariously.

"Keep calm!" Ariston screamed, making her earpiece squeal. "No! All I have to do is make sure you are _dead_!"

She untied the grass-green blow-up mattress from the board and dragged it over to the spot. After unfolding it, she unplugged the mattress. "Perfect," she whispered. "Self-inflating."

"Dead?" Percy asked calmly.

Lifting her binoculars, she turned to watch the spectacle happening nine-hundred-eighty-four feet above her. Percy was walking along the ledge now, going back and forth. Ariston Howland was standing like a pole was glued to his back; he was shaking furiously.

"_Dead for good_," Howland threatened, pointing his finger at Percy.

Katie gulped and brought down the binoculars to check on the mattress. Even though she couldn't see the maniac clearly, she knew he really wanted to kill Percy himself—just to finally be rid of her best friend. If that meant shooting Percy though the head, Howland would probably do it.

Kill an innocent child.

Well, maybe not so innocent. But still!

Katie faced the inflating mattress and her breath hitched. Inspecting the mattress was a person—a tourist most likely! "Who are you?" she squeaked.

The person jerked back, his blond hair gleaming in the moonlight. "Katie?" he asked.

"Sol!" Relief flowed throughout her body. Sol wouldn't rat her out, right?

"Katie, what are you doing here?" he asked quietly, stepping around the last important part of the plan.

"What are _you_ doing here? I always go with Percy. You're just a kid." Katie pointed behind her back at hopefully the top of the Eiffel Tower.

"I am eleven, for your information. And I've been going on these missions since I was eight. That's when I met Percy."

"Wait, you work for _them_?" she asked angrily. Maybe he would rat them out.

"It's not like I have a choice," Sol protested. "My dad works for them, and now I have to also!"

Katie hesitated. "Who's—who's your dad?" _No_, she thought. _It couldn't be_ him. _But, the blond hair, the gray eyes…_

He paused, like he didn't want to answer. "Ariston Howland."

A silence stretched between them—long and heavy, like a boa constrictor was wrapped around both of their throats so they could not speak.

Katie ripped that boa constrictor in half. "WHAT?!" she screeched. "You mean to tell me that Percy became buddy-buddy with the SSSTNN's leader's son?!"

"Yeah… That pretty much sums it up." Sol took a step back due to her outburst.

"And what does your father think about this? Huh?"

"Are you kidding me? I couldn't tell my dad! He'd use me to find him and then kill both of us!"

She took a deep breath, and that was when she realized something. Something super important. "Move over!" she ordered, shoving Sol over to the side; she got down on her knees and closed up into the mattress. Clumsily grabbing for her binoculars, she yelled at Sol, "Pinch me! Or punch me!"

"Why?"

"I need to cry, and once you get me started, I can really do good on my act." She managed to bring the binoculars to her eyes and spotted Percy frantically doing the signal behind his back: a simple, easy, shake of is left hand with two fingers held out like a peace sign.

"But you're a girl," Sol complained.

"Just do something!"

A blow to her shin doubled her over in pain. Water began streaming down her face. "Go," she muttered into her earpiece.

She heard Percy say his "last words": "And besides, Ariston, I won't be around anymore."

Then Percy held his arms out wide—

—And fell.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie screamed like a maniac.**

The scream came out long and loud and high pitched, as if she were really and truly terrified. Which she was. Don't get her wrong; she was being one of the most pessimistic people on Earth as she watched Percy plummet lower and lower, closer and closer to the hard earth.

Her breaths came short and shallow, and for a moment, an image of a splattered best friend entered her mind. Shaking the horrible thought from her mind, she watched intensely as Percy whipped out his two super-powerful circular magnets out from large pockets on his cargo pants—which he really didn't approve of, preferring his faded blue jeans—and stuck them near the _La Tour Eiffel_.

_Clang! _He was hanging; the decoy came tumbling down. It fell, looking creepily like the original Percy, who was, thankfully, safe.

Katie kicked away the rest of the supplies by her feet—which Percy would kill her for doing—and shoved Sol away. "Move it. You don't want people thinking we were talking, do you?"

"No…"

"Then move it!"

Sol Howland scurried off, leaving Katie alone. But not for long.

The decoy landed on the grass-green mattress a mere second later.

It crashed on the mattress, which deflated with a farting noise. The decoy was wrapped in the folds of green, and sticky red liquid was splattered all over.

_The decoy is Percy_,Katie told herself. _Percy is bloody and _dead.

However much she knew that Percy wasn't actually dead, the decoy made it look so convincing—with the same exact outfit, messy jet black hair, and glasses. She let the waterworks flow, shaking and bundling up the mattress around the fake body, where fake bones were jutting out; the decoy had the gruesome, realistic effect of any real dead person who was dropped from the top of the Eiffel tower. Well, she thought it did, and hoped, too.

Katie sat there next to the "dead" body, on her knees. Tears continued to come, falling into a puddle in the grass, making a small, muddy spot that seeped into her jean shorts. It seemed like forever until the SSSTNN people came down the lift to see what all the commotion was about.

Howland, holding a big, fancy gun that Percy would know the name to, stepped forward from the middle of his ranks. "Girl, what are you crying about?" he asked, voice hard and emotionless.

Through sobs and wails, Katie manages to choke out, "He's—he's dead! The—the p-plan was supposed to work!" A wail escaped her. "But it didn't!" She stuffed her face into her hands as her body shook.

Rubbing her face, she watched as Howland shifted uncomfortably. "A plan? You two had a plan?" She shook her head as she pulled the bundle of the "dead" body closer to her. "And now the boy is dead?" he asked, eyeing the Percy hidden beneath the blow-up mattress.

"Y-yes!" she sobbed, folding over from the tears; she pinched herself and thought of run-over puppies to keep the tears running.

Murmurs traveled the whole of the SSSTNN. "The troubled child is gone? Dead?" Katie heard one woman—the woman she shot in the shoulder—mutter. Ignoring the troubled child part, she carried on with her grieving.

"So the body—it is there?" Howland pointed, and Katie nodded sadly, still sobbing her poor little heart out. "Maybe we should take the body from you—"

"No!" she screeched. "You can't take 'im! You can't!"

Howland stumbled back, holding his arms out in surrender. "Okay, child, we will not take this dead body from you, but you should really quiet down."

"No, I won't! If you don't want me to alert every person within a mile radius, just leave! Leave! Now!" She was on her feet now, stomping her foot, her arms pressed against her body, hands curled into fists.

Nobody moved.

"I SAID LEAVE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs; Katie fell down to her knees and began sobbing—loudly.

"Shut up!" whispered Howland urgently. When Katie continued to screech as loud as a jet engine, Howland turned to his men and waved them off. He started backing away, and then he turned and hopped into a cool black car that suddenly came out of nowhere; Sol was in the back seat.

Now Katie wanted a cool spy car, along with a cool pocket-filled jacket.

As the car vroomed away, her sobs slowly quieted until the sound all but disappeared. When she was sure the coast was clear, Katie sped to the Eiffel Tower. "Clear!" she shouted to the top. "C'mon down!"

A rope tumbled down, and Percy zipped his way down a few moments later, holding one of his arms. Katie rushed to his side, her eye brows furrowed in confusion. Grunting, he turned to her. "I hate you right now," he said, plopping down with a wince.

"Why?" she asked worriedly. "What happened?"

"You said"—he huffed, and sweat beaded down his forehead—"that I would never yank my arm outta socket, but—would ya look at that—my arm is in immense pain!" He groaned dramatically and flopped over, still gripping his arm.

"Your arm is… out of socket…?"

"Yes! The reason for my pain!" Percy griped.

"I realize that!" Katie snapped. "What do we do?"

"'We?' No—_you_. You have to pop it back in place," he told her.

"Won't that hurt?"

"No. So, do me a favor, and _fix my arm_!"

"Okay, okay. Just, tell me what to do."

Percy glared at her, and carefully emphasized every single syllable: "I already told you: Pop my arm back. That's all!"

She got down on her knees and gripped his arm. "More specifics, please."

"Simply jerk up and in. Or something like that! I really don't know right now!" Percy grimaced as Katie pulled on his arm accidently.

"Sorry!" she yelped. "Okay, just—breathe."

"Already am!"

"I was talking to myself!" While she was snapping at Percy and his irritable attitude, she actually popped his arm back in place. He didn't say anything, because he knew she would freak, and his arm was still sore; Percy did have to wait a long time before it was fixed—much too long, in Katie's opinion.

Eventually, though, Percy brought Katie out of her rant, and together they gathered all evidence and hid it away—hopefully, to never be found again.

The whole time, she wondered what it felt like to be dead.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie enjoyed first class—a lot.**

Probably more than she should, but—oh well. She leaned back in her chair, and at the corner of her vision, she saw Percy sleeping peacefully. She thought that was suitable, considering the fact he no longer had to worry about a crazed secret organization out to kill him. Well, he did not have to worry about one crazy group out to kill him; there might be more.

Sighing, she thought about her day, and how crazy it was. It would have to stop soon, though, she thought, since school was around the corner. But this summer had to be one of her craziest yet. Men wearing black suits knocking down her door, then Russians, next the SSSTNN, and now this—flying first class from Paris, France, the City of Love.

Secretly, Katie could hardly wait until her birthday. She had a gut feeling that something adventurous was bound to happen.

Speaking of birthdays…

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped. "Percy!" She lunged over to his seat and shook him awake.

"Wha?" he mumbled sleepily.

"It's your birthday!"

"Yeah, what about it?" He stretched, rubbing his eyes.

"We won't even be back in New York 'til ten P.M.! That's what! You missed your whole birthday! Not to mention out parents must be worried sick!"

"Butterfly, calm down. I can talk to our parents and convince them to celebrate tomorrow." He was so calm and relaxed—she wanted to wring his neck.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Now, what are we gonna tell them?! Wanna say, 'Oh, we went to Paris.'? No! What are we gonna do?!"

Percy cupped his ears. "First: _ow_. You're screaming in my ears. Second: again, calm down. I sent an email that says we were needed for questioning. All our parents know is that we were helping catch a mastermind criminal."

"Oh." Katie leaned back in her cushiony blue seat and relaxed. "Okay."

Percy smirked. "Forgetting I'm a genius now, are you?"

"Downgrade your ego, air-head."

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie had another weird dream.**

After the whole situation was sorted out, she had immediately conked out in her bed. But, of course, given her luck, she had to have some sort of weird dream that brought her to see some of her nightmares—the SSSTNN.

They were celebrating. Loud music blared through huge speakers four feet tall. Punch and goodies like chips and cookies were lined along two tables aligned on the sides of the dance floor. On the actual dance floor, men and women alike were dancing like crazy, holding their plastic glasses up and cheering, "Huzzah! The troubled one is finally dead!" They were thanking the gods or Fates or something crazy like that for their good fortune, which made Katie's head spin.

The whole scene made Katie's stomach lurch. When she thought that they would celebrate, she didn't think they would; it was only her way of picturing the pure evil that took place of their hearts. But here was the entirety of the SSSTNN, where everyone was celebrating.

Everyone except for two.

Sol Howland was sitting in a corner by himself, holding his plastic punch cup, mourning over the loss of his friend. Guilt ate away at Katie's heart: Poor Sol—he didn't know it was all fake, that the fallen Percy was a fraud. He thought his friend—probably only friend—was dead.

The other person was Sol's father, Ariston Howland; Katie thought for certain he would be the happiest of them all, so this surprised her. Howland was leaning against a wall, deep in thought. He was muttering to himself: "It just does not make sense. It cannot be that easy. Why would he simply give up?" He gazed at the sky, like he expected some god to answer his question. "Whatever went happened made him the way he is—the way he _was_? What mislead him into the life of a troubled child?"

Her dream blurred, and Katie was slowly being sucked away. She didn't even try to tease and prod at the people dancing their empty souls away—she was too scared of them to try.

She sucked in a deep breath as she woke up, the earliest signs of sunlight streaming through her windows. Blinking her bleary eyes, she stretched and swung her legs over the side of her bed, her body naturally padding to the room next door. She knocked once, then twice, and then she simply walked in.

The room she had stepped into was Percy's—which may be weird to some people, but not to her family; he had lived with them so long it was only normal to give him his own room. She hopped on his bed and sleepily yanked his blankets off. "Percy," she moaned. "Percy, wake up."

He stirred, them waved her away. "_No_," he moaned back. "Must… sleep…"

Katie shoved him off the bed. "Ged up."

_Thud. _"Ow! What the heck was that for?" Percy asked as he rubbed his sore head.

"For not waking up," she replied briskly.

"Just tell me what's up," he grumbled sourly, yanking his blanket from her grasp.

"I have a question."

"And that question is…?"

She held her breath, but his left eye brow was raised and that stupid nagging feeling was telling her to speak up. "What if they find out that you're not dead? I mean, all they have to do is type in your name and look into your personal record, like what those Russian guys did." She paused. "What if they come after you again?"

Percy chuckled quietly. "Katie," he laughed, "that's the whole genius part of my plan. They can't do that."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me, did they once say my name?"

"No."

"That's because not one of them ever figured it out. I was simply the troubled child that got in their way." He grinned his lop-sided grin, squinting to see her in the dim light without his dorky glasses.

"Speaking of being the troubled child, what exactly did you do?" she asked curiously. "You had to have done somethin' horrible to make them wanna kill you."

He pressed his index finger to his lips. "_Sh_. That's top secret, Butterfly. But don't worry. No one else will ever see those papers again." Her blank face made him add, "Because they're gone, burned to ashes." His grin didn't seem so cheeky anymore.

Katie shrugged off the bad feeling and waved good-bye, heading toward her room for a bit more sleep. A sleep with no more nightmares.

The only thing that bothered her was one question: What did Perseus Jackson do that was so bad, so awful, that the Secret Service so Secret There's No Name felt they needed to exterminate him?

**DONE! So, what do you think? Tell me in reviews, or even favorites and follows.**

**I'll try to update before thirty days this time.**

**Oh, and P.S. ****There's a poll on my profile about a possible Katie/Percy story I will write.**** I would appreciate my readers to vote if they can; also, I have no idea how long it will be up, but don't expect it to stay for too long. **


	11. Better

**Yay! I'm back! (Good thing I didn't make any promises, huh?) This is to answer a question by one of my reviewers… **trustingHim17**. Anywho, thanks for still being there for me guys, even if I've been a terrible updater. Things should get better once school starts, because I'll be on a real schedule.**

**Also, the Katie/Percy romance story has the most votes. POLL IS CLOSING. And, just because the poll is closed doesn't mean the story will come out soon. I'm sorry, but I will not overload myself. **

**Warning: mention of drugs—just slight. You'll see. **

**I DO NOT OWN. **

Better

**Katie felt really guilty—like, seriously guilty. **

It was that time again, the time where she was at one of her favorite places ever. The season was summer, and Katie Gardner, Daughter of Demeter, was unpacking her things in her cabin. Now, even if she loved this place like her garden, she still thought it could be better. Way better.

But that would involve bringing Perseus Jackson, her best friend, to Camp Half-Blood.

This was the beginning of Katie's second year at camp, and the guilt eating at her heart wasn't as severe as it had been the year previous, since at least this year the trip to Long Island had been planned. It still hurt no matter what she told herself, however, and, though she would never—and she means _never ever_—admit it to Percy, Katie missed him. She missed all their crazy adventures and even the moments where she was positive she was about to die. Yes, being a demigod was dangerous, but it was nothing compared to being partners with a world-wide—yes, somehow, Percy managed to annoy people across the world; it is still a mystery to Katie—criminal.

And, to make everything ten times harder, Percy was actually trying to do good things, instead of attempting to pluck every nerve of FBI agents and whatnot! It had started right before Katie had been found by a monster and brought to Camp Half-Blood: Percy had been giving to charity. Sort of.

What he really did was take money from people and then send it to charities of all kinds. His logic was that, if he only took five to twenty dollars, nobody would notice or care too much if they did. So, Percy would make a flexible plan: "borrow without permission" five dollars from twenty wealthy looking people on the streets, "borrow without permission" ten to fifteen dollars from seven banks, and then "borrow without permission" twenty dollars from five stores or restaurants. At the end of the day, he could turn in 300 big ones to charities. Then, of course, Percy would take the extra and give it to his mom without her knowledge.

It was a twisted way of being good, but it was the best Katie had ever seen on a giant scale. Usually his acts of kindness consisted of being there for someone in need or not pounding an annoying person to a pulp.

Katie sighed quietly as she placed another pair of shorts in her drawer. She had missed the majority of it, though, because she spent her summer at camp. When she had called him her first day, Percy had been, to put it nicely, upset and maybe a bit angry at the extreme change of plans, but he had let it go and allowed her a summer—the first one in years—without him.

So, now, here she is, unpacking for an entire three months of planting, acting like the perfect child of Demeter, and pretending she didn't have the abilities or guts to beat the living snot out of the Stolls.

Truthfully, that was the second suckiest thing about Camp Half-Blood, besides not having Percy around twenty-four/seven.

Katie Gardner pretended; she didn't show her full potential.

She had no idea why she simply decided that—_hey, I'm cool with not doing stupid awesome things like throwing knifes; I'll just stay in the strawberry fields with my pacifist siblings. _

When Katie had learned of the world of gods, she had had a difficult time figuring out her mother. Sure, she loved gardening, but she also had an IQ equal, if not higher, than half of the Athena cabin; she knew how to use weapons of all kinds. But, of course, there was the mild streak of violence and the love for a good fight. And who could forget her eleventh birthday! Arrested for thievery. Or maybe there was a goddess of following stupid reckless people, so you do stupid reckless things.

But she was claimed by the cereal goddess, which she was fine with. She got pacifist siblings, which was totally cool with her.

And everyone expected Katie Gardner, the newbie, to love the idea of "other" pacifist. Everyone else expected her to be exactly like all her other siblings.

Maybe that's why she molded herself to be so quiet.

Maybe that's why she never questioned the Athena cabin.

Maybe that's why she ignored her urge to wield a weapon.

Maybe that's why Katie Gardner pretended to be Little Miss Perfect.

Katie snorted quietly as she closed her drawers. If only everyone could get another glimpse at the truly crazy chick she was. The first one was obviously not enough. Most people at camp forgot.

Except for Clarisse la Rue and her posse. Yeah, they wouldn't forget the time a simple, tiny, meek Daughter of Demeter smashed all their faces on the toilet bowls when they tried to dunk her head into that nasty water.

Katie laughed at the memory and walked out to the strawberry fields.

Yep. That was definitely a memorable failure.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie froze at the news.**

For a reason unknown to her siblings, at the murmur of the new demigod, the one who had killed the Minotaur, she had become stiff. Katie felt her stomach churn: she knew—knew better than the back of her own hand—only one person, one idiotic, reckless, boy, who could have that stupid luck.

Only one untrained child that could fight that well and live.

Apparently, without her knowing, that untrained child was a demigod.

Katie turned ever so slowly to her gossiping siblings sitting on the bunk below hers. "This kid," she began, her voice harder than usually, "what's his name?"

"Uh… Percy Jackson, I think. He's in the infirmary though, so no one got a good look at him," one of her brothers replied, his eye peering at Katie through squinting eyes. "Why do you want to know? You were never one to care about gossip."

For a moment, the hidden, criminal hardened Katie came out: "What does it matter to ya?" she snapped. "I wanna know some'in', I wanna know some'in'."

They small group jumped back from the outburst. "Sorry for questioning," her brother tried to apologize.

Katie bit her lip. "Naw, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that." She waved them off and shouldered her way out of the cabin, heading to the Big House.

On the way, Katie—of course, because her good luck didn't really exist—ran into the Stolls. "Hey, Kit-Kat!" Travis shouted, which was strange because they were less than three feet away from each other; that's Travis for you.

She rolled her eyes. "Go away, Stoll." Keep it short, don't give them anything to provoke their teasing, she told herself. Keep calm and don't kill them.

"Katie, I'm hurt. Why not so nice today? Did something happen?" Connor placed a hand over his heart, as if he were really in pain.

She grit out from between her teeth, "I am not in the mood for your shenanigans right now."

Travis suddenly grinned, and a mischievous gleam lit his eyes. "You're going to see the newbie—Percy Jackson, right? You want to meet the one." He poked her mockingly, and it took all of Katie's newfound willpower not to make the guy eat three pounds of dirt right then and there.

"I just want to see him. I think it would be nice to meet the new guy before everyone glares at him for doing what he did." She stalked off again, but the Stolls persistently followed right behind her.

They continued to mock her, but she ignored their words, not speaking until they were right before the door leading inside the Big House: "Ya know," she drawled, "you two should meet him, too. I mean, he is unclaimed, right? Wouldn't that put him in… your cabin?" She grinned and was about to twist the doorknob, when it was flung open by Annabeth.

Startled, Annabeth reached instinctively for her dagger. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, her hand relaxing from its death grip on the weapon.

Katie smiled a sickly sweet smile, moving a bit closer so she could peer above Annabeth's shoulder. "I wanted to see the new camper," she chirped, sending a glare at the surprised Stolls way. "I heard he was here. Can I come in?"

Annabeth blocked her off, slamming the door behind her. "No," she said bluntly. "Chiron said no visitors."

Katie's smile melted off her face, leaving a blank, emotionless mask. Then she grinned again, but this was what she called the Aphrodite grin. "You just don't want us to see him," she drawled, "because you think he's cute." She poked the surprised Daughter of Athena. "You _like_ him," she teased.

Annabeth blushed furiously. "I do not!" she protested. "I don't even know him, so how could I _like_ him?"

Katie shrugged. "I dunno, but that's just how love works."

"I am _not_ in love!"

"Okay"—Katie flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned away—"whatever you say, Annabeth." She took a step away from the door, smirk forming on her face as she heard the smallest twist of the doorknob; Katie knew this would work—Percy did it on her all the time.

"Fine!" Annabeth shouted, shoving open the door. "You can go see him."

"Great!" Katie twirled around, grinning like she had done nothing wrong, and skipped happily into the room where Percy laid on a cot. She turned to see Annabeth grumbling to herself and the Stolls gaping like fish out of water. "Are you guys coming?" Katie called.

Travis blinked. "Yeah," he muttered. "Yeah, we're coming." He stepped into the room, followed by his brother and Annabeth.

"So, this is the new kid?" Connor asked, pointing at Percy.

"Yes. He'll probably be staying in your cabin when he wakes up," Annabeth answered briskly, glaring at Kate.

"Will he wake up soon?"

"Maybe."

After that, Katie began tuning them out, instead staring at Percy to make sure he was okay. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but… it could be on the insides, like when he died… She shook those thoughts away, blurting out, "What's wrong with him?"

Annabeth furrowed her brows, before she nodded in understanding. "He simply drained himself."

"Really? Doing what?"

Annabeth shrugged uncomfortably. "Well—well he just lost his mother"—Katie flinched inwardly at that; wonderful Ms. Jackson was _gone_?—"and fought the Minotaur—"

"But wouldn't he have woken up already? I mean, what he did was amazing and everything, but the nectar and ambrosia should have healed him. Right?" Katie squinted her eyes at Annabeth and tried not to look at the sleeping form of Percy Jackson—she knew if she looked at him, Katie would slap him silly for doing something so stupid.

"Possibly," Annabeth said stiffly. "But that's beside the point. The point is, you've now seen him, so you all can go." She waved to the door, and Travis and Connor immediately slipped out.

Katie lingered for a bit, eyes sliding over to her best friend for one last glance.

For some weird reason, her gut was telling her to just leave—don't say anything about knowing him.

And for some weird reason, she listened.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie sat under a large, towering tree in the woods.**

Why? Well, that was the best part to her. When Percy had woken up, she had somehow managed to get a moment alone with him, and they both agreed to meet up in the woods.

The worst part? Percy wasn't armed, so he had to use some sort of trick to be allowed in to the woods. And that was only if he managed to slip past the campers and satyrs who constantly kept watch on him.

But this is Perseus _freaking_ Jackson.

Katie wouldn't doubt him.

Not even waiting for more than five minutes—four minutes and forty-seven seconds according to Percy—she watched as the "criminal mastermind" stepped in the small opening. "What's up, Butterfly?" he greeted, smiling cockily at her scowl.

She gave a strained smile. "The sky." She pointed, as if to prove her point.

"Oh, _ha ha_, Gardner. That's positively hilarious." He rolled his eyes and plopped down next to Katie.

"Thank you!"

Percy rolled his shoulders, almost like he was doing that annoying shrugging thing again. "So… this is where you've been going to for the past two summers," he said slowly, gazing at a tree nymph that had popped out of a juniper tree.

"Yeah," she drawled, shifting at the awkwardness that had settled over them. This had never happened before; they were usually so comfortable around each other.

They sat in silence, unspoken words tingling on their tongues.

One minute passed.

Two minutes.

Three.

"So what took you so long to heal, Mister Almighty?" Katie stared at Percy expectantly, knowing full well that he knew exactly what had caused the delay.

This time, he did shrug. But then he smiled that lop-sided smile, a glint in his sea-green eyes. "My eyes," he replied, the smile inching just a bit wider.

"What? Your eyes? What do they have to do with anything?" she asked, peering at them in the day-time sun. They did seem a bit different… more focused, brighter…

"The nectar and ambrosia is for healing, right?" Percy continued, raising his left eye brow.

That nagging feeling tugged at the back of her mind—it was so annoying, and yet so helpful in a way.

Katie gulped. _No way_, she thought. _No way something like that can happen_.

It was thought that Percy would never see in the first place.

Now here he was basically telling her that they were even _better_.

"The nectar and ambrosia targeted your eyes!" squealed Katie, her smile reaching from ear to ear. "You can see!"

Percy chuckled. "I could see before."

"Yeah! But now you can see even better! Without those contacts you were so bent on getting!" Katie jumped up in joy.

"Hey! I liked those contacts."

"Only because they weren't those glasses," she pointed out.

He grumbled under his breath, but said nothing to prove her wrong.

She laughed out loud and threw her hands up in the air, and then Katie pulled Percy to his feet and dragged him even deeper into the woods.

"What are we doing?" he asked warily, as if he did not already know.

"Exploring," she simply stated. "I mean, why not make the best of our luck while we have it?"

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie made her way to their special spot in the woods.**

While exploring during their first official meeting in Camp Half-Blood, the duo had trekked to an area near the very end of the woods; there, Percy had spotted a bunch of tree limbs—large and thick—almost stacked on top of each other below the perfect spot for a tree house. Now, Katie never had nor made a tree house before, but she figured it was worth a shot. So, every day, during their free time, they would hike to the back of the woods by following their own little trail: small strawberry stains that would make a big, star-shaped splotch on specific trees. Only if a person were really looking would they see these spots.

Over the days—sometimes spent together, sometimes not—the tree house had formed. It was a dark shade of brown, the wood was rough from lack of sandpaper, the roof was only made from weaved together leaves, and there was only one entrance—a medium-sized window that they would jump through, like it was a hula-hoop, after climbing up the tree next to the actual tree holding the tree house—but Katie loved it.

She loved it so much.

It made everything so much… better.

She and Percy would sometimes meet there when they had the time, and they would just talk and talk and talk. Percy even told her what his plan for being good would have been if it hadn't been for the sudden thrust into the world of gods: getting rid of addicts. His goal was to somehow get as many drug addicts and alcohol addicts to stop being, well, _addicted_. Katie didn't know how he would accomplish this, but apparently, he had been testing his "antidote" on Smelly Gabe and his poker buddies.

*"Take the thing people are addicted to," he had said, "and make it so it still has the same taste, but also make it so that the brain doesn't send as much dopamine—or whatever the brain is sending out—out. Slowly, as the people continue to do what they are addicted to, my antidote will make it so that the brain would eventually stop giving what people want completely, thus stopping the addicted part. The only thing that will keep the people doing drugs and alcohol and all that other junk would be because they want to or just out of habit."

Well, it went something like that; there was also a lot of other scientific stuff though. Katie really didn't understand. Of course, she suspected it would go like that as soon as the words "I did some research" came out of Percy's mouth.

Katie stood in front of the tree house, hands on hips. She could tell Percy was in it from the sounds similar to a lumbering elephant coming from it, but she wanted to wait.

To think.

Percy had just been claimed as a son of Poseidon—the only one because of the oath the God of the Seas had made after World War II—but it was still a surprise to Katie. Sure, she had the feeling that he was a child of some water god or goddess after Percy crowned Clarisse la Rue with the tittle of Goddess of the Toilets, him being the God of Toilets. And sure, he did always—_always_—seem happier around water.

But he also always seemed happier compared to the first years Katie knew him.

Shaking the thoughts away, Katie climbed up the tree next to the tree house. It didn't matter, at least not yet. Percy was at camp, and she was no longer lonely; Percy's eye sight had actually improved even more; they had their own little tree house; and Percy was… nice-_ish_.

Everything was simply… better.

Yeah. Things were better.

And Katie liked it that way.

**Uhg… I really don't like this chapter. It just didn't come out right. (A review would help with this doubt.) Anyway, yes, they are demigods. **

**Next chapter: Katie Gardner's birthday! Yay!**

***I HAVE NO IDEA IF THIS WOULD WORK. I am a thirteen year-old girl who likes science videos. It doesn't mean it's correct. DO NOT GO OUT AND TRY THIS. **

**Maybe I should put a warning on my summary: ****_Do not try the shenanigans that these two do. They are fictional characters with unbelievable stupidity and luck._**

**Sorry to all those waiting for updates on my other stories. Trust me, I'm working on them. **

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX**


	12. The Faults in Shoplifting

**Okay, I had a guest who said he/she liked mean Percy better, and to be truthful, so do I, but there is a reason I am making him grow soft! The reason: reactions. That is all I will tell you! PM me if you think you've figured it out. I bet you haven't. **

**I DO NOT OWN.**

The Faults in Shoplifting

**All Katie had wanted was to learn a new thing for her birthday.**

Of course, that thing turned out to be pickpocketing—but, in her defense, her best friend was a criminal mastermind. Even though Percy, said best friend, would probably want to decline at first, he would eventually say yes, and when he did…

Well, Percy was a freakin' criminal; he knew how to do this stuff.

It was four in the morning, but Katie was too wound up to fall back asleep. Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, she slowly tip-toed her way to the room next door—Percy's room.

Now, many people would find it strange that their best friend had their own room, but Percy had lived with the Gardners before, so it only felt right. Besides, he slept over so much, it was like he lived there.

Katie didn't bother being quiet as she bursts into Percy's room. She barreled over to him, jumping on his bed. "Wake up! Wake up!" she shouted, jumping even harder. When Percy felt safe, he was a deep sleeper. That often led to difficulty waking the boy up. "Wake! Up!" She pushed him off the bed, and he tumbled to the floor with a thud.

"I'm _awake_," he groaned as he sat up, glaring at Katie in the dark.

"Good." She plopped down, dangling her legs over the edge.

"Ugh. What could you possibly want at _this_ hour?" He pulled himself up to the bed, sitting next to her.

"It's my birthday," Katie stated simply, as if that explained everything.

"I got that, thank you," Percy snapped. "I mean, what you want for your birthday."

She put on a thoughtful look, as if she didn't already know, but she did; Katie just had to make it sound simple, like a good idea. Be… manipulative. Like Percy. Yeah, that's what she needed to do. Be like Percy and twist his mind into knots. It probably wouldn't work, but, hey, you gotta start somewhere. "I wanna learn how to pickpocket." There—short, simple, and sweet. The three S's.

Percy didn't even bat an eye. "You already know," he said, stuffing his face in his pillow.

"No—not really."

"No. Or, at least, not until later." He sighed through his nose, as if he were sniffing for his pillow; he probably was, since his head had hit the object of need not two seconds later.

"Please?"

"Ask again and I'll give a definite no."

"Please?"

"No."

"_Please_?"

"No."

"_PLEASE_?"

"I said 'no.'"

"_PLEEEEAAASSSSSEEEE_?"

"Okay, fine!" Percy sat up, grumbling under his breath. "I'll teach you how to pickpocket. Go get ready. Now."

"Wait"—Katie furrowed her eyebrows—"I just wanted you to get up so I could ask, and, ya know, get you to say yes."

"Yeah? Well, too bad. I'm teachin', and I'm teachin' ya now."

Maybe Katie should have waited to ask. This was not going to end well.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie blinked her eyes.**

For nighttime, New York City wasn't very dark. Lights and cars and people—it was always active, alive, and she wasn't used to that. Katie spent the first decade of her life in the middle of nowhere, the nearest neighbors beside her grandfather being a half hour drive away.

And that was considered pretty close.

"C'mon." Percy tugged at her arm, bringing her deeper into the surging sea of New Yorkers and tourist. His dorky glasses were propped high up on his nose, and that beanie was back on his head; the shiny metal chain was back, too, wrapped loosely around his waist.

Dang, Katie was so conflicted on those things—they were a part of Percy, but they were usually only around nowadays during trouble. (His mom thought they influenced his attitude towards darker things, so she took everything away with limited use.)

"We'll just start simple, kay?" Percy continued, coming to a stop. "Since you're a novice, just… trick the people. This is some'in' I used when I first began pickpocketing around the age of seven." A man was coming their way on the sidewalk, and Percy pointed out the expensive suit and gold watch. "Watch 'n learn."

Percy sauntered up to the man, turned around, and "accidently" bumped into the business man's stomach. Percy hit the ground with a cry of "Ow!"

The man grumbled, like he really didn't want to do anything, but helped Percy up anyway. That was his biggest mistake. Percy grabbed the man's wrist as he rose, as if for support, and as soon as Percy was on his feet, the man was gone.

Missing his watch.

Percy dangled it before his face, an enormous smirk stretching his lips. "Pretend to trip or bump into 'em," he explained. "Be smooth when you grab whatever ya want, though. No need for them to suspect anything."

Katie nodded, breathing in deeply. A woman was prancing her way on stilts more commonly known as heels; rings covered nearly every finger. All she needed was two or three. Then she'd be good. Katie twirled on her heels and danced backwards while pointing at Percy, like there was a joke between them. _Bump!_ Katie hit the ground, and so did the woman. "I'm so sorry," Katie apologized, helping the woman up; one, two, three, four rings popped into her palms.

The woman, frazzled, fixed her stiffened hair and briskly took off from her.

Katie grinned, and she skipped back to her best friend. "Looky here!" she cheered, showing off the rings—all pure gold with expensive gems in the center.

Percy nodded his head carefully as he picked one up to examine it. "We could sell them to a guy I know. It'd be good money." He shrugged. "You could keep one if you want." He returned the ring to Katie, who tucked all four rings in her jacket pocket.

Always have a jacket while pickpocketing for safekeeping.

"I like money better," Katie stated, and Percy grinned.

"I know a way for you to get more money…" He trailed off, that mischievous glint clear in his eyes. "But I'll save that for later."

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie continued to pickpocket poor pedestrians for another hour.**

The duo would move from place to place—in case people came back and to lessen suspicion—from one corner to one corner, for their victims. In the time they had for pickpocketing, Percy had nabbed two necklaces, three watches, over a dozen rings, two sets of earrings, and around one hundred dollars, and Katie had gotten her four rings, one watch, one bracelet, and twenty bucks.

What? Percy has had a lot of practice.

After that last hour, though, Percy had wanted to try something… different. One that involved anything they wanted from any store.

Yep—shoplifting.

This was all new to Katie; pickpocketing was her limit. But Percy wanted to break that limit. "Leave your comfort zone, Butterfly. Go and fly to new places," he had told her.

Katie had responded with, "Of course, this _is_ your comfort zone. When was the last time you robbed a bank—yesterday?"

It didn't do anything for her, and now here they stood, on 550 Madison Ave. near 55th St., about to enter the ever famous Sony Style.

Yeah, that's right—Percy Jackson wanted to "borrow" things from an all-out gadget store.

He was going to kill her one day.

"C'mon," Percy muttered, tugging her along. His eyes scanned the shelves, judging the televisions in front of him. "We'll get this one."

"How?" she whisper-shouted. "It's _huge_! This is not something you just tuck under your shirt and leave with from the drug store. This is Sony. Freakin'. Style!"

"Calm, Katie. Just make a distraction, I'll do the rest."

"You don't need this. You just want to cause trouble," she accused.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Correct." Smirking, Percy gave a mock salute. "But you're an actress, so you can help me get what I want, right?"

Katie grumbled. "I can…"

"Will you?"

_Don't look at his face. Don't look at his face_, she chanted over and over again in her mind.

A nagging feeling tugged at the back of her mind, and she looked up. Aw! There it was: the raised left eyebrow, all-too-serious face.

"Fine," she grumbled as she stomped off to the center of the store, which looked more like a showroom to Katie. Clearing her throat attracted some attention, but that wasn't the real show stopper. Taking one of the four rings—a thick band of gold with a large emerald right dab in the middle—she stole off of her first victim's fingers, Katie set it down on one of the shelves and walked off.

"Uh, ma'am," she heard behind her, and Katie turned to see a young boy around her age, maybe thirteen or fourteen, with close cropped hair and faint blue eyes holding out the ring for her. When he realized her age, he gulped. "Oh, um," he stuttered. "You—you left this." He shoved the ring toward her.

And the show stopper begins.

"YOU STOLE MY RING, THEIF!" Snatching it back, Katie peered over a shelf and screamed at some poor souls who wanted a new camera, "THIS THEIF STOLE MY EMERALD RING!"

She stormed back and forth, screaming at the top of her lungs, making sure to emphasize on thief, and she continued to scream at the top of her lungs when workers came to her aid.

One man, who had a bulging gut and double chin, glared at Katie after he rounded the corner, while his co-worker, a toothpick of a man wearing oversized loafers, had simply seemed confused.

Katie deemed both of them idiots.

"Uh, child," the toothpick man—Arnold, his name tag read—began, tentatively taking steps forward. "What seems to be the issue here?"

Katie placed a hand on her cocked hip; even if her clothes were ratty and her hair hastily put in a ponytail, she had to act the superior beauty queen. "I already told everyone!" she squealed, glaring at the three in front of her. "That—that _thief_ stole my ring!" She pointed a delicate finger at the gaping boy. "_My ring_! I _just barely_ got it back before he ran off."

"No—no, it isn't like that!" protested the boy, but Katie stepped in front of him, interrupting his defense.

"You should have people guarding him! He's a criminal!" Widening her eyes, Katie got next to the overweight man, Henry, and gripped his arm fiercely. "What if he has a weapon?!"

"Little lady, I'm sure—" Arnold tried to comfort, but Katie wouldn't take it.

She was a princess. They should protect her from the bad guy.

Even if she was really the actual criminal.

Still.

"HE. STOLE. MY. RING! Why aren't you arresting him? I'll have my daddy sue this whole company if no one does anything!"

Snicker doodles. Now Katie had to think of names.

Henry blinked and pulled away from her. "And who is this _daddy_ of yours? Hm?" He was eyeing her over, like he couldn't believe a girl like her came from a wealthy family.

Katie straightened her posture and let lose the lie: "My name is Deanna Perjure, and my father is Charles Perjure."

Henry snorted. "Never heard of him."

Katie flipped her hair over her shoulder, making sure to roll her eyes so she could get a furtive glance at all of them. "Of course you wouldn't. My father is a stock trader, but he makes millions."

"Millions?" the boy asked. "Is that how you got that ring?"

Katie popped up. "See! He even knows what my ring _looks_ like! Arrest him!"

Arnold huffed, but nodded anyway. "This does look slightly suspicious. Go tell your parents that you need to be questioned for a while, but you're not in trouble, okay?" Arnold said to the boy. "And you"—he pointed at Katie—"where is your father?"

"My daddy left me here to buy whatever I want. He'll be back soon…" She added quickly, "But there is no calling him. He's busy."

"Fine." Arnold grabbed her elbow and when the boy came rushing back, looking faint, led both of them to the back. Henry lumbered behind them, glaring at all the customers and co-workers that stared.

There was no escaping without suspicion.

What had Katie gotten herself into?

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie slumped in her uncomfortable seat.**

Why did this all seem familiar? Oh yeah, that's right—she's been questioned before. Far too many times, actually. The boy beside her, Alexander Chandler Williams III or Alex, pouted in his seat, as if he were about to cry.

"I didn't do anything and you know it," he told her over and over again, as if it made a difference.

She sighed, tapping the emerald ring against the wooden table. Arnold had gone to see video footage—which wouldn't work, she knew, because Percy would have disabled it all before he snuck out the television and probably more—and Henry stood outside the door, inhaling donut after donut.

She pulled out another ring, and Alex's eyes widened in shock. Katie soured; maybe this was why Percy was bitter all the time when he was younger—everyone was the equivalent of an idiot to him. He just grew used to it as time went on, though Katie had no idea how. _Tap, da-dap. Tap, tap, da-dap. Tap, da-dap. Tap, tap, da-dap…_

"Stop gawking at me," Katie snarled. She just wanted Percy to whisk her away so she could be home in time for her birthday brunch; it was nearing ten-thirty!

"Then tell me why you have all those rings." His mood had soured as well, apparently.

"Ya gonna bargain with me?" Turning in her seat, Katie placed the rings back in her pocket and whipped out a bobby-pin.

That was rule two: Always have a bobby-pin.

If Percy came, which was likely, she wouldn't have to use it, but if he didn't… well, she would finally have to learn how to pick a lock.

"Yeah, I am." Alex leaned forward, getting up in her face. "I don't know _why_ you did what you did, but I know you know I didn't do anything."

"Repetitive, I see. Just wait until Arnold gets back, and then we'll see what happened." She turned back in her seat and placed her ratty shoes on the table.

Okay, messing with people's minds was fun, she had to admit.

Wow. Katie was acting like Percy more and more these days.

At that moment, Arnold decided to come back into the room, and he looked slightly shaken. "Someone disabled all of our computers—everything."

"What do you mean?" Katie snapped, once again becoming Deanna. "You can't prove that this thief stole my ring?"

"Ex—exactly. There is nothing we can do. We'll have to keep you two here until things can get situated." With that, Arnold left, slamming the door behind him. Katie watched as he absently picked up a donut and walked dazedly to the elevator.

"There isn't anything to prove," Alex growled, and Katie sighed through her nose, feeling a throb appear in her right temple. Great. Was this a migraine Alexander Chandler Williams III was giving her? It sure felt like it.

"Shut up, please."

"Oh." Alex waved his hands in the air. "Did I just hear a _please_ from the princess?"

"Yes, you did. And if you don't shut up, you're going to get a taste of her fist." Katie held up her right fist, waving it in his face.

"Okay, I think we both know you're not a princess," Alex whispered, suddenly serious. "I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours."

It was a bluff. It had to be. But she was so curious… "You start."

"My parents aren't here. I came to Sony Style to see if I could steal anything, but everything is all wired and stuff. You go."

Another criminal.

Irony is a funny thing.

"I came to Sony Styles with my best friend, who should be here any second. Knowing him, he probably has that television he pointed out and a bunch of other stuff." Katie smirked.

"You have that much money?" Alex asked, staring at her pockets, like a pickpocketer. Not really—Percy would never do that; he would simply ask and wait for the answer, and then see if they show him the money.

Katie snorted. "Of course not. We're kids."

Blinking, realization dawned on Alex. "You stole from this store." And then, "I was just a distraction."

"And a great distraction you were," a voice said from above. A boy dropped from the ceiling, and Katie rolled her eyes.

"Finally. I thought you'd never come," she muttered.

"What? No faith?" Percy placed a hand over his heart, like what she said hurt.

"No—you're a criminal who steals and cons people on a daily basis." True.

"I thought conning people was sorta like stealing."

"Whatever. Let's get outta here." Katie stood up, but before they could leave, Henry stepped in the room, another donut half in his mouth.

"What are you doing?" he spat out around the powdered donut. "Who are you?"

"I, my good sir, am your worst nightmare." Percy grinned devilishly, and then there was a kick, a thud, a click; the next thing Katie knew, Henry was handcuffed to a chair, unconscious.

"Wow. I needa learn that," Katie mumbled, and she saw Alex nod in her peripheral vision.

"Later. What we need to do now—Twerp the Third included—is get out of here." Percy huddled them in a circle. "I turned everything off earlier, including the video cameras, as you two should know, but that means more people are milling around. They want to know who did it, and my guess is that you two will draw attention from, uh, the show Katie put on."

Alex looked confused; Percy sighed and explained: "Me, criminal mastermind. Learn it, don't forget it. Katie, Deanna Perjure to you—nice name by the way, with the leader and liar put together—my partner, or sidekick, you could say. We stole from this place, and I know wanna leave, too. So, we'll all get out of here, unforgotten but unknown."

"You always liked to make it big," Katie muttered, a sly smile snaking its way on her face.

"Of course I do. Now, here's the plan."

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie had learned long ago to trust Percy.**

Alex, on the other hand, had not.

"This guy is crazy. Do you believe this will work?"

"When Percy says jump, you ask how high," Katie replied dully. Truthfully, they weren't supposed to say anything at all, since they were in the air ducts, but Alex had a mouth like a machine gun—once it starts, there's no stop.

"But—seriously? This plan—or whatever it is—it can't possibly work. We're just going to leave with everything? _Everything_?"

"Quiet," she hissed. "We can and will. Percy's already gatherin' information from all their computers on all the floors. All we have to do is get everyone out of the store."

"_All we have to do_? That's impossible! This is insane. You two are insane."

"Tell that to the FBI."

That startled Alex. "Why?"

"They agree."

"Oh."

They lapsed into silence, and Katie wondered how Percy ever dealt with her—at least this guy had thought of thievery before. The first time she ever got arrested, Katie had been the perfect little angel. She knew Percy did illegal things, yes, but she never got mixed in it.

And here comes the mental sigh.

"Here." Katie pointed, and Alex followed her out of the air duct; after climbing out, they balanced on ceiling beams. She tossed Alex some latex gloves one of Percy's special ropes: It was transparent, almost invisible to the human eye, and the ends were equipped with specific magnets that would not ruin electrical objects if directly in contact. "Drop it down in aisles where there're no people, and pull whatever you got up. I'll take it and place it in the net."

Yeah, there was a net also, for keeping everything in the store in.

"This is a rope. Am I supposed to lasso it all?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"No. Just send it down."

"How—?"

"Just. Send. It. Down," Katie gritted out between her teeth.

"Got it." The rope went down, and soon enough, there was a soft _click_. Alex's muscles strained as he brought up a computer, which looked invisible.

Alex blinked. Again. This guy was in over his head. "How…?"

"Percy tinkers with stuff. This isn't the first time he's stolen stuff. It's probably some reflective cloak wrapped around the rope, and when the magnets attach to something, the cloak floats down to cover it."

"O-okay."

They repeated this several times: Alex sending the rope down. The magnets getting something. Alex pulling the thing up. Alex bewildered. Katie growling for Alex to get a move on as she placed the object in the net.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Then Percy came, grinning a triumphant grin, waving around a bundle of papers so thick they would've made a phone book look small in comparison.

"How're you doin'?" Percy asked as he leaned over to check out the store. He hummed to himself and then said, "I think it's time for the distraction."

"What's the distraction?" Alex automatically asked, worried.

"I got it under control. Stop worryin'." Percy patted his back, and then he was gone again.

To do something stupid and yet ingenious.

It didn't take long to figure out what he did.

"FIRE! QUICK, EVERYONE OUT! THERE'S AN ELECTRICAL FIRE!" Customers mumbled and groaned as they were ushered out by an unseen force while workers rushed to the back to see where the fire was.

"Hey, I don't see a fi—" A woman's voice was cut off as a door was slammed.

There was banging and threats of called the police, Katie guessed, but Percy laughed.

"I cut off everything," he shouted through the door. "No phone service, email, anything. I'll let you all out later."

Katie watched as Percy raced to the front and locked the front door, flipping off the open sign. Then he ran to the elevators, messed with them a bit, and they were off. Next, Percy blocked off the stair door.

No one could enter the store area. They were blocked off.

"Come on down, guys," Percy called to Katie and Alex. She tied the rope to a beam and slid down, Alex with the heavy net following behind. "I can't believe people actually fell for that," Percy chuckled. "But that's not the point. Now, we can clear everything out. And I mean _everything_."

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie smiled at their work. **

Televisions, cameras, computers, even the shelves—everything—was piled in a precarious pile in her backyard behind some fully grown evergreens; the pile was completely hidden unless someone really looked.

The way it got there… it is very complicated, but it was there.

"I can't believe it," Alex muttered, gawking at it all. "You two actually did it. You cleared the whole store."

Percy nodded, cleaning his glasses. "They'll lose money, profits, but I think it'll survive."

"Aren't you worried about getting caught?"

"Nope. There's nothing they can use against me. If police came and found this"—Percy nodded at the pile of electronics—"that still wouldn't be enough. There's no video footage, witnesses, not even finger prints. Besides, we're kids. They think we're stupid, that we would never be able to pull off something like this."

Alex shook his head. "They're obviously the idiots."

Katie nodded and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "You need money?"

"What? Um, yeah, sorta."

"Sell it. Ask a person, maybe once a week, and sell 'em something they want. Wear a disguise and no one will know who you are."

"O-okay. I-I can do that. Thanks, guys."

Katie smiled warmly and Percy rolled his eyes.

She knew he felt good anyway.

**0o0o0o0o0o**

**Katie still got arrested.**

She was at the drug store, without Percy, and she decided to give it a try all by herself.

It was only a piece of chocolate, right?

Wrong.

Katie sat in the back of the store as a police woman—the woman she had stolen the four rings off of, actually—questioned her on why she felt the need to try to steal anything.

"Okay, honey, you can call your parents now, if you want," she finally said, and the woman passed Katie her cell phone.

But Katie wasn't going to call her dad. No way.

_Brrrriinnnggg_, _brrrriinnnggg_, _brrrriinnnggg_. "Percy Jackson."

"Uh, hey, I'm at the drug store around the corner—you know the one—and, um, I _accidently_"—Katie glared at the officer—"stole a piece of candy. Any way you can help?"

"Yeah, definitely. I'll get you in a minute, Butterfly."

Percy was never going to let her live this down.

Katie sighed. At least she had spread her wings and flew to a new place.

**Wow… I don't know how this happened, but I hope you all enjoy. Also, I apologize for my updating habits. I'll try to fix that and update more often.**

**And many of you are asking for more Camp Half-Blood. Wait, and you will see.**

**Review. Favorite. Follow.**

**Peace and all that other stuff.**

**~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX**


End file.
